Opening Ceremony and Concert with Mayor Betsy Hodges, music by Helado Negro with Minneapolis Music Company and dancers Alberta Mirais and Erin Smith, Minneapolis Convention Center Plaza, Northern Spark 2016. Photo: Jayme Halbritter.
As the sun sets on Saturday, June 10, Northern Lights.mn and the City of Minneapolis with officially kick-off Northern Spark 2017 Climate Chaos | People Rising with an opening ceremony.
Join us on the lawn of The Commons, downtown Minneapolis’s new green space and Northern Spark’s western-most neighborhood, for this free and fun event.
At 8:30 pm, The Commons will resound with the sounds of the MacPhail Community Youth Choir, followed by Mayor Hodges’ unveiling of ORBACLES by MINN_LAB, this year’s multi-sensory Creative City Challenge winner. ORBACLES connects directly with visitors about climate change through the story of birds and the language of our senses. Its orb structures communicate the recorded and the anticipated shift of birds due to species loss/species migration related to climate effects, and the interconnected transformation of land and water environments.
The Opening Ceremony will also include a poetry dedication by Moheb Soliman and a special welcome from Northern Spark’s co-directors Steve Dietz and Sarah Peters.
Once the ceremony is ended, you’ll be well-placed to start your festival exploration with the many artist projects in The Commons, and easy access to Metro Transit’s Green Line, which will take you directly to the festival’s other 6 neighborhoods.
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MINN_LAB is a collaborative design studio comprised of 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 is presented by Northern Lights.mn and The Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy Program of the City of Minneapolis, and The Commons.