Creative City Challenge winner debuts at

Northern Spark opening ceremony June 10

‘Orbacles’ connects directly with visitors about climate

change through the story of birds

June 2, 2017 (MINNEAPOLIS) Everyone is invited to come for the Northern Spark opening ceremony and stay up all night in the name of art; the annual dusk-to-dawn arts festival kicks off with an opening ceremony in downtown Minneapolis at 8:30 p.m. June 10. The event will feature poetry, music from the MacPhail Community Choir, and Mayor Betsy Hodges introducing “Orbacles” along with the artists who created it: MINN_LAB, the Creative City Challenge winners. The opening ceremony launches the entire Northern Spark festival and activates many more creative projects in The Commons, located at Portland Avenue and Fourth Street. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 10, the ceremony is free and open to the public. This is the first large-scale community event in the park.

Under this year’s Northern Spark theme of Climate Chaos | People Rising, “Orbacles” connects directly with visitors about climate change through the story of birds and the language of our senses. Its orb structures communicate the interconnected transformation of land and water and the shift of birds due to species loss and migration related to climate effects.

MINN_LAB is a collaborative design studio comprising Ross Altheimer, Kirk Davis, Robert Hunter, Daniel Keefe, Katie Loecken, Andrea Johnson, Seth Johnson, Mike McGrath, Patrick Moe, Maura Rockcastle, Marc Swackhamer, and Aaron Wittkamper.

The opening ceremony and creative projects in The Commons are presented by the City of Minneapolis and Northern Spark. This year marks the fifth annual Creative City Challenge, a collaboration among the Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy program of the City of Minneapolis, the Commons, Northern Lights.mn and the Northern Spark festival. The opening ceremony is presented by Northern Spark and the City of Minneapolis.

Northern Spark

From sunset June 10 to sunrise June 11, Northern Spark 2017 will explore the effects of climate change through participatory projects in neighborhoods along Metro Transit’s Green Line. Since 2011 thousands of Minnesotans and visitors have enjoyed Northern Spark, an annual all-night arts festival illuminating public spaces and streets of Minneapolis and Saint Paul with video projections, temporary installations and experimental performances. Northern Spark is produced by Northern Lights.mn.

Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy

The Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy program leverages the creative sector toward social and economic growth in the City of Minneapolis; coordinates arts and creative economy activities; works with the Minneapolis Arts Commission; collaborates with City departments on eliminating racial disparities; and develops arts, culture and creative industry policies and programs for the City of Minneapolis.

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