SYDNEY, N.S. — Lumière Cape Breton’s 11th annual art-at-night festival kicks off today with an artist panel.
Hosted by playwright/actor Wesley Colford, artistic director of the Highland Arts Theatre, three artists will talk about their creative process at this free event; the first over two weeks.
“The main reason we are doing this kick-off is so young artists can see how some of the older ones work,” said Bria LeJeune, events and logistics co-ordinator.
“It will be a laid back, creative discussion about how the artists use their creativity to bring their ideas to life.”
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Speaking are Nelson MacDonald, Chanelle Julian and Melissa Kearney, who is one of the showcased artists for 2022.
Happening at the Eltuek Arts Centre in Sydney, it is one of nine events on this year’s Lumière program which runs from Sept. 10-24.
“We want art to be even more out there in the community,” LeJeune said. “I am so excited for Cape Bretoners to see the program we’ve put together.”
Stilt walkers from the River Clyde Pageant are shown as they make their way down Charlotte Street as part of the Lumière parade in 2019. JEREMY FRASER/CAPE BRETON POST
Talking, watching, making
The 2022 theme is “Re:Emergence” and 80 artists are participating in the indoor/outdoor festival.
As previously reported in the Cape Breton Post, Lumière festival chairperson Robyn Neal explained the “Re:Emergence” theme is about fostering the feeling of community as the slow return to normal living is returning after two years of uncertainty and imposed separation.
LeJeune said expanding the festival by adding more artist panels, workshops and music events is in keeping with the theme as Lumière brings people of all ages together in different communities.
Some highlights of the 2022 Lumière program include:
• A short film night at the Cape Breton Drive-In on Sept. 15 is being curated by Nelson MacDonald and starts at 8 p.m.
• An artist panel on storytelling on Sept. 22 with playwright Daniel McIvor, poet Robyn Martelly and choreographer/Painted Dance artistic director Hazel Sparling.
• Lantern-making workshops at four libraries in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Sept. 17 (Sydney, North Sydney, Glace Bay and Louisbourg)
• A 19 and over paint night at Fired Creations on Sept. 22
• The Artists Bump Up on Sept. 23 is a networking event for exhibiting, aspiring and hobby artists
A full list of events can be found on the website lumierecb.com and as always the festival ends with a bang for the art-at-night exhibit along Charlotte Street.
“We just want Cape Breton to be alive again,” LeJeune said. “We want downtown Sydney to be the vibrant city it is.”
Different route
Since the first Lumière in 2011, the art festival has grown to attract attendees from around the Maritimes. As previously reported in the Post, attendance for this year’s festival is expected to be 15,000 people.
“The route is a little different this year due to the construction on Charlotte Street,” explained LeJeune.
Although the exhibits, performances and installations will primarily happen along Charlotte Street, there is a short detour for the block currently ripped up.
This will take people along the Esplanade and up Pitt Street. The route will be well lit.
There are 13 indoor venues for Lumière 2022 as well as the outdoor spaces.
Nicole Sullivan is a diversity and education reporter, who sometimes covers the health beat, for the Cape Breton Post.
SCHEDULE
Lumière Arts Festival 2022 When: September 10-24 Where: Downtown Sydney Cost: Free Sept. 10: Kick-Off – Creative process artist panel Where: Eltuek Arts Centre Address: 170 George Street Time: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sept. 15: Curated film night Where: Cape Breton Drive-In Address: Grand Lake Road Time: 8 p.m. start Sept.16: High Point sound and art Where: Wentworth Park Bandshell Address: 744 George St. Time: 7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Sept. 17: Lantern-making workshops Where: Libraries in CBRM Address: Sydney, Louisbourg, North Sydney, Glace Bay Time: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Sept. 17: Storytelling artist panel Where: Eltuek Arts Centre Address: 170 George Street Time: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sept. 22: Open studio Where: Eltuek Arts Centre Address: 170 George Street Time: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sept. 22: 19+ ceramics painting Where: Fired Creations Address: 582 George Street Time: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sept. 23: Artist Bump In Where: Doktor Luke’s Address: 54 Prince Street Time: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Sept. 24: Lumière main event Where: Charlotte Street Time: 7 p.m. – 12 a.m. More info: lumierecb.com
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
