|
Word on the street is it’s a free festival that celebrates the joy of the written word. And with 45 authors, 16 music acts, four dance performances, 10 food vendors and two panel group discussions all gathering downtown on Sept. 25, it appears the Word On The Street Festival will deliver on its promise.
It’s a huge event for Lethbridge, as the city joins bigger centres such as Vancouver and Toronto which have been holding Word On The Street festivals for the past 20 years.
“We’re joining much larger centres like Halifax and Vancouver. Ours is the first festival to be granted a licence in two years,” said Christina Wilson, associated director of public service for the Lethbridge Public Library.
“It started 20 years ago in Toronto as a national book and magazine fair, but it’s changed over the years. So for us it’s big,” she continued
There are plans to make the festival an annual event, she added.
The street will be blocked off 5 Avenue South to 8 Street South with events happening all over and around the block, including the library parking lot, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Just follow the big red dog, Clifford,” said Colette Acheson, one of the organizers.
So because it is not only the first but also a big event for the city, a group of LCI students are filming not only the festival itself, but all of the excitement happening behind the scenes.
“September is the perfect month to do this, because it is the beginning of the publishing season, so big-name authors are easier to attract and it is also the beginning of the awards season for writers,” said Acheson.
She pointed out that September is also a busy month for Lethbridge Public Library, which has programs such as Raise a Reader on Sept. 28.
She is working in close association with the library to make the event a success.
Acheson heard about LCI’s film production program through its productions “A Work in Progress” and “Inspired,” about one of the school’s dance presentations last year, and called up to see if there was interest in doing something about Word On The Street.
“We wanted to do something different. Something a little more professional than just a videography,” said teacher Dave Brown.
Students from all grades meet after school, before school and weekends to complete their projects, including this one.
While Brown is there to offer guidance and instruction, a lot of the project is on the students, who look for the proper camera angles, lighting and taking care of post-production.
“The kids have become problem-solvers. They are looking at the film in terms of problem solving. They are learning to anticipate problems and solve them before they happen,” he said.
They plan to have the footage and rough editing done by the end of September, early October, with the completed film done by February or March so it can be part of LCI’s film festival, which he hopes will also include their own projects.
And while last year’s film festival had the full red-carpet treatment outside the Yates Memorial Centre, this year’s festival will be more scaled down, taking place in the large lecture hall.
He is proud of his students’ work and the positive response for this project it has received.
“People are coming up and saying that it’s as good as the work coming out of the second- and third-year new-media program, and that’s not a knock on that program because it’s great. I learned a lot from it,” Brown said.
“So it’s nice to hear a comment like that recognizes their talent.”
Numerous musical acts including John Wort Hannam, Karen Romanchuk, Shocked Standards, Jean Greer McCarthy, the Necessities and Edmonton bluesman Marshall Lawrence will be performing at the festival.
“It’s a pretty diverse lineup,” Acheson said.
There will also be a variety of authors speaking including mystery author and playwright Gail Bowen, who writes the Joanne Kilbourne mysteries; Red Deer-based young adult novelist Sigmund Brouwer; Toronto poet Nik Beat; Calgary poet Rosemary Greibel; teen author Intissar Louah and many more. Plus, Clifford the Big Red dog from the children’s book series of the same name will also make an appearance.
There will also be panels of all sorts including one on freelance writing featuring representatives from The Alberta Magazine Publisher’s Association and the Professional Writer’s Association of Canada (PWAC).
“We have a real mix of national, regional and provincial musicians and authors. There’s some really amazing people,” Acheson continued.
Organizers have gotten creative with the promotion of the event. They connected with the Most Vocal Poets and even planning a couple “flash mobs” with local dance and school groups from LCI and St. Patrick.
“St. Pats had a Black Eyed Peas song worked out and changed the lyrics to be about reading,” Acheson said.
The performers went to one of the Saturday farmers’ markets, stood in the crowd, began their song and accompanying choreography and then moved to a central space to complete the number.
“They’re a lot of fun because people aren’t expecting singing and dancing in the middle of a farmers’ market,” she said.
“It was pretty amazing.”
For more information, visit http://lethbridgeword.wordpress.com/
|
