Light The Night Festival 2021 –
ARTIST APPLICATION GUIDE – EXHIBITS
Are you an amazing creative type? A visionary, a performer, a painter, a crafter, a sculptor, a maker of wonderful things?
Well, we want you to know about The Creative Cafe’s newest public art initiative in partnership with The Cotton Factory and The Barton Street BIA.
LIGHT THE NIGHT – 2021.
Light The Night – is bringing creative, surprising, and uplifting art to spaces around the exterior and first floor of The Cotton Factory, December, 4th 2021, everyday places around The Cotton Factory will be transformed into magical spaces that showcase the creativity of people like you!
We are looking for artists to submit their brilliant ideas on how to transform our city with art. If you are interested in participating in this year’s festival, read on to learn more about how it works and how you can get involved.
The festival will consist of several art installations located around The Cotton Factory. A small launch event will showcase different kinds of performers and will offer a market for local artists and small business vendors (as pandemic restrictions allow).
Our Inspiration = Nuit Blanche
The inspiration for this event is Nuit Blanche. Nuit Blanche is a globally recognized term that describes an all-night arts festival that transforms a city into a defacto art gallery by providing space for art installations, performances, themed gatherings, etc. Nuit Blanche events typically take place over one night. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Nuit Blanche, look it up and explore the incredible offerings these events inspire.
Funding & Resources
The planning committee is working to secure sponsorships and grants to help cover material costs associated with artist projects. If you are a business owner and would like to sponsor an artist or installation, please reach out and let us know!
Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to fully compensate artists for their time and creative genius.
Instead, we are offering selected artists partial financial support for their material costs depending on the scale and location of their project. We will offer support in the form of an honorarium from $250 to $500 dollars which will be sponsored by local businesses and corporate sponsors. The amount and artists will be determined by the selection committee made up of community members. Selections will be made by November 1, 2021.
In order to be selected for the Light The Night, you may submit installation works already created or you must include an estimate of your material costs. Projects with high impact | Low-cost ratios are more likely to be accepted. For more details on the application process, keep reading.
If you are an artist who absolutely requires payment for your creative contribution, we understand and support you in that decision! We look forward to working with you in the future as our event and financial support grows!
Project support is not guaranteed! Please do not purchase materials until you have received a project support offer.
Still With Us? Awesome!
Your creativity, generosity, and enthusiasm will be the heart and soul of this project. We want to work with artists who are as excited as we are to collaborate and find creative ways to realize their artistic ambitions in the midst of a pandemic.
FYI Our planning committee is completely volunteer-run. As you might imagine, it’s quite an undertaking to launch a new festival during a pandemic.
Nevertheless!
We are doing this because we believe that artists have something special, something that we love and want to honour and nurture with an amazing gift. You are part of that gift. Thank you! Let’s make something awesome!
Disclaimer
You’ve probably noticed but, this has been a weird year. Please note that the Festival plan could be altered at any time by circumstances outside of our control. We appreciate your patience and flexibility while we organize around the pandemic and all the complications it brings.
We are here to help you!
The planning committee is pleased to offer logistical support as well as marketing and promotional opportunities for participating artists.
As a selected artist you will be offered a free portrait session and your work for the festival will be documented by the festival photographer. You and your exhibit will be featured on our website and highlighted in our social media activity.
If you need help, have questions, or want to give us feedback at any point during this process, please reach out to us:
Artist and Sponsor Contact please send inquiries to: cowork@cottonfactory.ca
How does this work?
Great question! There’s a short answer and a long answer.
The Short Answer
You, the artist, consider the list of eligible places and spaces and devise a plan to transform one or more of those places into a magical slice of your imagination. You figure out how to do it and what it will cost. You can make a general plan, or a plan specific to a location.
You submit your plan(s) and your cost estimate online. (The link to the application is provided under Submission Details on the last page of this document). We look at all the plans and pick the ones that are amazing, uplifting, and feasible for the festival this year. If one of those amazing yet feasible plans is yours, we make you an offer of support – with a dollar amount to help cover material costs.
Offers will be made by November 1, 2021
If we offer you enough support to make your project a go, you become a featured artist. You get your project ready to install by November 20th, 2021.
The Long Answer
The long answer can be found on the next page or two. You are encouraged to read these pages carefully as there are important things to consider as you move forward and begin to create your plans.
If you have any questions about the application process, please reach out to us sooner rather than later.
Projects will be considered based on the
following questions:
-
Artistic Impact
1.1. How likely is your project to surprise and delight audiences?
1.2. Does it create a positive, uplifting experience?
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Feasibility
2.1. Is the project realistic and viable? 2.2. Can the project be installed without significant damage to the property?
2.3. Can the project be installed without interfering with functional space – walkways, etc.?
-
Durability / Vandalism
3.1. Is the project weatherproof? 3.2. Is the project resistant to vandalism?
-
Safety
4.1. Is the project safe and structurally sound?
4.2. Does the project satisfy COVID-19 safety concerns? (For example,
exhibits that invite guests into an enclosed space / to touch shared surfaces would not be considered this year.)
-
Cost
5.1. What are the material costs associated with the project?
-
Social Media Impact
6.1. Does your project have any elements that make it fun to pose with / take pictures of?
Let’s state the obvious:
Projects must exhibit respect for others. Works that depict violence or explicit sexuality, use profanity or involve bigotry or the belittling of others in any form will not be accepted into the festival.
General Notes on Locations
We are offering a mix of window installation locations and outdoor locations. You may indicate your preference for a specific location in your application.
Indoor locations consist of business windows in The Cotton Factory. Artists are encouraged to creatively utilize the window/display area of these spaces to provide festival-goers with a unique experience.
Pros: Interior spaces will provide protection from vandalism and the elements. Most of these locations will be able to provide power.
Cons: Interior spaces will not provide an immersive experience for festival-goers and may not photograph as well as outdoor exhibits.
We are in the process of gathering available interior locations. We will release more details as they become available.
Email annette@coworkfactory.ca (subject: Interior Space Updates) to be put on a list to get updates on interior spaces as they become available.
For now, we ask that you submit a general plan for interior window spaces. If your project is chosen, you will have approximately one month to adapt your plan to a specific location.
Outdoor locations are available at various points around The Cotton Factory. (see below). Outdoor exhibits must be weatherproof and acceptably resistant to vandalism and mischief.
Projects must respect public use of space. Exhibits must not interfere with the use of walkways, street furniture, etc.
We want to be welcomed back next year, so please innovate non-destructive ways to secure your projects. Where possible use solar-powered string lights or battery operated.
Murals
We will have access to at least one wall for mural painting. If you are interested in a mural project, you may indicate this in your application.
- Outdoor Locations
- Garage Doorways along Biggar Avenue
- Walls, trees, and lawn space along Sherman Avenue
- Fencing, laneway and walls along and windows along Lansdowne Avenue
- Cotton Factory Parking Lot
- Mill Arts Building Walls
- Laneway underpass
- Laneway Windows
- Fire Escapes
- Roof Tops
- Sidewalk Art
Other Opportunities If CoVid Restrictions Lifted
- Studio 102
- 1st Floor Hallway
- 1st Floor Inner Courtyard
- 1st Floor Shipping Bay
About Us
Light the Night is a volunteer-driven festival with support from The Cotton Factory and The Barton Street BIA.
The Committee is completely volunteer lead.
We will be looking for volunteers to assist as part of the curatorial and event committee to help us manage the festival. We will also be placing a call out for technical support to help us install lights, and assist the exhibiting artists.
Artist and Sponsor Contact:
Cowork@cottonfactory.ca
Submission Details
Project plans are due on November 1, 2021. You will receive our response by November 5, 2021
Please submit your application by email to: cowork@cottonfactory.ca
You are invited to attach files containing visual presentations of your ideas. Please share the following:
Social media pages: Instagram | Facebook | Website
PNG / JPG: 75 dpi
If you are not comfortable using the technology provided, contact cowork@cottonfactory.ca to make other arrangements.
Thank You!
Thank you for your interest in the Light The Night Festival. We are very excited to dream, create, and work with you.
This is the 2nd year of the festival however the first formal year where we have a call for submission.
Things may change as we move forward. Please be patient with us as we learn, grow, and adapt to changing circumstances.
If you have feedback or suggestions that you feel would be helpful to share with us, we are indeed interested.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this proposal and for being great! Let’s do this!
