A Community Arts Lantern Parade Saturday, March 18, 8pm Boyle Street
Glow is an illuminated night parade weaving through the Boyle Street neighbourhood, featuring enormous animated lanterns handmade by the community. On last year s Spring Equinox, Quarters Arts and the Boyle Street Community League (with support from the Edmonton Arts Council) launched GLOW, Edmonton s first illuminated night parade. Over the twelve weeks leading up to the celebration, hundreds of volunteers including local artists, diverse community groups, and the students at Mother Teresa School, came together to dream, design, build, and then animate their hand made lanterns in our first annual walking parade. The parade s theme was Celestial, and the lanterns were inspired by elements of our northern nights. Participants and passers-by alike were delighted as a virtual nocturnal sky descended upon The Armature in a luminous procession of stars, moons, and owls (to name a few). This year, GLOW returns on March 18th with a new theme: Under The Prehistoric Sea. We anticipate inspired, magical collaborations between our artists and community members in the coming weeks, and cannot wait to share what they dream up!
Why should you support Glow? Glow is an opportunity to: Create a beautiful, intersectional, community-grown festival unique to Boyle Street and The Quarters Downtown Engage with and generate pride within the area s diverse communities Foster relationships among organizations, residents, artists, and businesses Involve residents and neighbours at street-level Celebrate the health and vibrancy of our community Demonstrate how art and artistic collaboration can empower, uplift, and unify
Glow is inspired by parades that have evolved from art making projects from Cambodia to New Zealand. They include: The Giant Puppet Project in Cambodia www.giantpuppetproject.com The Brighton Children s Parade www.samesky.co.uk/events/childrens-parade Heart of the Beast s May Day Parade www.hobt.org The Lismore Lantern Parade in New Zealand www.lanternparade.com The Nagasaki Lantern Festival in Japan www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-festivals/nagasaki-lantern We need to shift our conversations from the problems of community to the possibility of community. Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging
Project Details A collaborative group of Edmonton artists will work with select groups or agencies over a period of weeks. Quarters Arts seeks to promote inclusivity by inviting community organizations that operate in and around Boyle Street. The lead artists will present the project to the groups illustrating a number of lantern ideas. Each group will conceive of, design, and build a giant lantern of their choice. The lead artists will help to develop the stories that celebrate the diversity and cultures of the various groups, and to create designs and parade units that best represent them. Each group will design smaller lantern or parade elements that their walkers will carry and/or wear. If needed, the lead artists will visit privately with individual groups. A weekly or bi-weekly meeting, and a creating time will be set. Quarters Arts will host several art-making sessions at GLOW HQ located at Hyatt Plaza Hotel so community groups can build together and maximize the artists time. This will also give groups a chance to meet, talk, share their projects and its challenges, and perhaps be inspired by each other. On the evening of March 18th, lanterns will be paraded up the Armature from Jasper Avenue to Boyle Street Plaza, culminating in a community gathering to celebrate the spring equinox.
Project Impact The Lantern Parade Project will: Forge new relationships between community organizations and groups in Boyle Street. Foster neighbourhood pride and develop a sense of shared identity. Reflect and celebrate the diverse cultural identities in Boyle Street. Offer community groups/organizations art making experiences with professional practicing artists. Animate the Boyle Street Plaza with a community driven event that creates a gathering point for reflection and conversation. Build connections with people from other city neighbourhoods who will be encouraged to come to Boyle and in turn connect with our community in a new and potentially profound way. Give voice to and start a dialogue with marginalized and under-represented members of our community, building a deeper understanding between all members of this quickly changing neighbourhood. When we establish human connections within the context of shared experience we create community wherever we go. Gina Greenlee, Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road
Stakeholders Boyle Street Community League YMCA The Drawing Room The Artists Markets Women s Emergency Accommodation Centre Mother Teresa Elementary School Bissell Centre The Islamic Downtown Association Chinese Benevolent Association Italian Centre/Spinelli s All local businesses Boys and Girls Club ihuman Salvation Army Women s Emergency Accommodation Centre E4C Downtown Business Association Chinese United Church Bent Arrow Healing Ambrose Place AUM Hotel Group B&R Auto
What is Boyle Street and Quarters Arts? The historic Boyle Street community is located in the heart of the City of Edmonton. Located just east of the city s central business district, it was Edmonton s original downtown core and remains home to many of the city s oldest buildings. Ethnically and economically diverse, Boyle Street s boundaries lie along 104 Avenue (the train tracks) on the north, Jasper Avenue on the south, 97 Street on the west, and 84 Street on the east. Quarters Arts is a non-profit society that engages in citizen-led projects that honour the heritage and explore the diversity of Boyle Street. We acknowledge that Boyle Street is a part of Treaty 6 territory and is a traditional meeting ground for many Indigenous peoples. We believe in Boyle Street! A community that is engaged and working together can be a powerful force. Idowu Koyenikan
We re experiencing the genesis of a community where it does not matter where your roots lie, but what you believe in. We will continue to create an inclusive and sustainable spirit, spreading the word from coast to mountaintop. Akilnathan Logeswaran
Quarters Arts Staff and Board of Directors Staff Lori Gawryluik, Artistic Director Lori is a sound engineer, multimedia artist, musician, and community connector who has dedicated her life s work to facilitating opportunities for emerging Edmonton artists while building community. Since the early 1990s, Lori has lived and worked in the Boyle Street Neighbourhood. When she founded The Boyle Street Performing Arts Society (2001-2006), she re-purposed her home into rehearsal studios for musicians and theatre productions, and a satellite studio for CJSR FM 88.5. In 2007, she founded The Artery, a multidisciplinary arts venue in the Boyle Street community, that hosted local arts shows, international touring acts, and community gatherings. As Music Director and Youth Mentor at ihuman Youth Society (2003-2008), Lori mentored youth achievement in music production, audio engineering, and live performance. As Community Facilitator for the Quarters Transitory Arts Project (an Edmonton Arts Council initiative in 2012), Lori helped with workshops and special events for Dirt City: Dream City, a transitory art project located in the Quarters/Boyle Street community. Board of Directors Darren Radbourne, President Natasha Fryzuk, Chair Chelsea Boos, Treasurer Andrea Lefebvre, Director Karen Jackson, Director Ahmed Ali, Director
If you d like to help your community with this year s exciting project, please contact quartersarts@boylestreetcl.com. THANK YOU!