KortuneFookie display by artist Jean-Francois Lacombe at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche arts festival.
Nuit Blanche, the international all night art festival, may be coming to Ottawa, with ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown and Little Italy potentially playing prominent roles.
Starting in Paris in 2002, the festival has spread from Tel-Aviv to Toronto entertaining audiences from dusk till dawn with free exhibits, music, and theatre.
The organizers of Ottawa’s Nuit Blanche are planning to draw upon the local success that smaller, annual festivals have enjoyed.
“In May, there are a lot of cultural festivals and we really want to include the different festivals in a lot of the public outdoor art,” says Lauryn Kronick, one of the co-ordinators of the event.
Kronick says Nuit Blanche could promote the visibility of local communities, and allow neighbourhoods to showcase artistic events that reflect their character.
She also says the organizers have been in contact with Chinatown Remix, The Fringe Festival, and Festival X, while other organizations have expressed an interest in participating.
“We haven’t been contacted but we’d like to be,” says Lori Mellor, executive director of the Preston Street BIA. “This night-time artists festival is right in line with the European style of our village and is something that would animate our area.”
Kronick says the organizers have begun talks with the cultural planning committee to see what funds are available from the city. But the event itself is still far in the future.
“We are not at the stage of having planned exhibitions and we are not yet talking to potential artists. We don’t even have a date set yet,” says Kronick. “Basically, right now, it’s a pre-planning process.”
Kronick and the other organizers are focused on rounding out their committee. They’re currently looking for someone to take on the task of connecting artists with the participating venues.
Typically museums act as central hubs during the festivities, opening their doors for the entirety of the event, and housing live performances.
Kronick says museums will be a big part of Capital Nuit Blanche and organizers are planning to include the National Gallery as well as The Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Gatineau may also be involved.
“We want the event to be bilingual involving both Ottawa and Gatineau,” says Jessica Ruano, an event co-ordinator.
Recently, Ottawa artists have played a prominent role in Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festivities. This year, Jean-Francois Lacombe, and Christian Desjardins crafted a giant wooden fortune cookie named KortuneFookie. With the push of a button the cookie prints fortunes submitted by the public from a website, Kortunefookie.com.
“Ottawa artists are known across the country,” says Ruano. “(People) think the best artists are in Toronto or Montreal, and of course, there are very talented artists there, but we should look to our own.”