SPOTLIGHT ON ART
Lumière ready to shine for another year.
If Melissa Kearney sounds a little tired first thing in the morning during an interview, she has good reason.
“So busy,” says Kearney, the event co-ordinator for Lumière Arts Festival. “Very busy. It has definitely amped up in the past couple of weeks.”
Kearney has been involved with Lumière from almost the beginning and has contributed as a volunteer, a board member and as an artist. She’s seen it grow from an event that attracted about 5,000 people for one night to one that now brings about 15,000 to Sydney’s downtown core on one special Saturday night at the end of September, as well as on the two days previous.
Now in its eighth year, Lumière keeps going due to a lot of hard work and ensuring that art remains accessible to everyone. This year’s festival runs from September 27-29 and, according to Kearney, this year’s program is jammed with artsoriented events.
“We have more programming this year than in previous years,” she said. “So it’s definitely a busy three days.”
This year’s festival features a curatorial theme based on coastal erosion.
“It was a suggested topic to connect for artists. One of the lines in the theme is resisting and embracing a world in flux. It is that place which is inward and outward at the same moment — thinking about the island geographically and where we’re going into the future — past, present and future mixed.”
As well, this year’s festival will feature a number of First Nations performers including operatic tenor and composer Jeremy Dutcher from Toronto. Dutcher will open the festival on Thursday, Sept. 27, 8:30 p.m., with a free performance at the United Heritage Church, 500 Charlotte St. The concert will highlight his Wolastoq First Nations roots blended with his classical training. Tickets are free but must be reserved so look on the Lumière Facebook page for more information. And if you can’t get to the Thursday performance, Dutcher is expected to perform again during the art-at-night event on Saturday.
Another highlight of this year’s festival will be the Lumière
artist talk that will be held on Friday Sept. 28th from 6:30-8 p.m., at St. Patrick’s Museum. All are welcome to come down for a coffee and hear festival artist-in-residence Angie Arsenault, local artist Alison Uhma and spotlight artist Michelle Sylliboy discuss their work and artistic process.
Other workshops taking place include lantern workshops on Saturday, Sept. 29, at 1 p.m. at the Membertou Youth Centre; Wilfred Oram Centennial Library, North Sydney; W.W. Lewis Memorial Library, Louisbourg and the McConnell Library, Sydney. There will also be an Arts Nova Scotia grants session at the Co-operative Study Club, 37 Nepean St.
As well, Velo Cape Breton will hold a bike parade starting at Sydney’s Open Hearth Park via Ferry Street and proceeding through George Street, the Esplanade, Wentworth Park, George St., Prince St. and back to the parking lot at Open Hearth, starting at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28 & 29.
The main event, Lumière’s art-at-night event, will run from 7 p.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29 along Sydney’s Waterfront District. Although
many local artists are taking part, Kearney says there are also artists from outside Cape Breton involved, which she says is a good thing.
“We do have a good mix of artists from away and that’s really important for the creative community, to be able to communicate with artists from away from here without having to leave.”
Featured artists this year include Washed Ashore, a community project from ACAP Cape Breton; Cirque de la Lune from Adlie Leviten-Reid; Jump and Slap from Alexis Bulman; Unanswered from Alison Uhma; An Unlikely Illumination from Angie Arsenault; Negative Impressions from Archive Cape Breton; Erosion from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cape Breton, Whitney Pier Youth Club; Teddy Bears, Love and Nightmares from Brittany Fagan-Steele; Story Swap, All About Animals and Mermaid Grotto from the Cape Breton Regional Library; Sunset performance from CBU Pipe Band; Party de cuisine Acadien/Acadian Kitchen Party from Conseil Communautaire Etoile de L’Acadie; Orb Weaver Sound Space from Coyote Fletcher; Public Work
from Donnalee Down; One By One By One by Faryal Shehzad; Speaking Shores from Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site; Guillozine by Guillozine@ Lumiere; Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa by Jeremy Dutcher; Marine Subconscious by Josh Zapf; The Passage of Time over Stone by Joshua Collins; Residuum by Joyce Nojima and Elizabeth Whalley; Transfer of Care by Kevin Kiosis; Fox Tale by Laura Stinson; Ghosts of the Atlantic by Leebly Brown; Pelly Mcgeoghegan-spoutist; Liminal Flight by Various Artists; Tumbleweeds by Mark Delaney; Komqwejwi’kasik by Michelle Sylliboy; Museum of New Ideas by Museum of New Ideas; Edges by Nelson MacDonald; Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters by Potlotek Education-CBU Partners; November, November by Ryan Josey; Inner Shapes and Coffee Breaks by Sandy MacNeil; business reIMAGINEd by the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce; Ukeleles Unlimited by Ukeleles Unlimited; Carboniferous Connection by Wayne McKay and WeirdBeard Drum Troupe by Weirdbeard.