musings | arts festival update

last week i held a brainstorming meeting for the arts festival i am planning. for the past two months it's been all about logistics, volunteer meetings and getting the sponsorship plan going. but alas...finally i was able to have an "idea" gathering. i've been itching to get started on this aspect of the project! it was a bit awkward at first (you can't just force people to have ideas), but once we got going it was really fun. i now have pages full of thoughts regarding music, dance, theatre and art. some of the ideas are simple (musician's in galleries...playing something more interesting than just guitar etc.), and others were quite obscure but hilarious (a roving group of people carrying a piece of foam core wall with art hanging on it - when they stop and line up, they create an outdoor gallery!)

but i think our best idea was to make the whole event a scavenger hunt. i knew i wanted to involve technology, social media and some sort of gamification - something that would make visiting as many arts locations as possible a game or mission. so we decided to have a scavenger hunt! there will be a list of items or missions which must be acheieved (i.e. we give the name of an artwork, and you take your photo next to it and upload it to facebook or instagram - proving you were in that space). we're trying to work out the details though because logistically we can't keep track of hundreds of uploads. any thoughts on how it could work?

musings | a new project

so i'm taking on a new project and since it's going to be a large portion of my life for the next seven months i thought i would write about it here. since 2007 victoria, bc has celebrated the arts by hosting a giant city-wide art crawl. last year i acted as gallery coordinator for the integrate arts festival and brought twenty-nine venues on board. it was amazing...there was so many participants that even i could only make it to twenty (maybe i shouldn't have stopped for dinner? lol).

this year i'm directing the festival...and i'm nervous but so darn excited at the same time! it's going to be bigger and better than ever. more like nuit blanche in toronto or swarm in vancouver. while every arts organization will be invited to participate, this year my goal is to take the art out of the galleries and onto the street. the whole city will come alive with art, culture and surprise performances. #canthardlywait.