Northern Spark : Midnight Playground - Creative Placemaking

For several years I was involved with a nuit blanche or all night arts festival. This event took place at more than 40 locations throughout the city, and my institution was one of the cornerstones, and played host to dozens of unique artist installations and events each year

Objective

• Inspire a large community to create and be creative together

• Develop a program that enriches a wide variety of users with special consideration to diverse accessibility

• Be considerate of all senses and modes of interaction

• Curate a group of experiences to meet goals

Problem Statement

How might we inspire together, create together, work together, and above all have fun.

Process

• Met with stakeholders to understand parameters and needs

• Extensively research venues and artists in the region

• Create and analyze submission forms

• Conduct interviews with artists

• Make final selection and develop schedule

• Glow up the night!

• Conduct post-mortem research

Results

For four consecutive years we pushed ourselves as organizers and curators to craft unique and memorable experiences. Experiences that inspired collaboration and art’s greatest goal: to introduce us to each other. Our location became a key hub and model for success.