Canada’s longest arts festival is doing it again.
Preparations are underway for Festival Inspire 2022.
Executive Director Lisa Griffin says they will once again be in seven communities starting on May 12, “They are Saint John, Woodstock, Edmunston, Caraquet, Moncton, Charlottetown and Shediac-Parlee. However, applications are open for visual artists, musicians and we are also looking for volunteers.”
Griffin says Festival Inspire is known for its murals, but it also includes musical, and performance arts, “Inspire is known for its big, loud, giant outdoor permanent murals, contemporary muralism. And sometimes we tell the history of a place to throw a historic piece but generally focus on telling the story of now through the big murals. Because it takes a week to paint a mural, we put all of the arts in all of the public spaces. So one thing that sets Inspire aside from other festivals is the permanency of the cultural infrastructure that we leave behind. Also, that everything is free and accessible to the public. We don’t charge for tickets. Everything is free and accessible, mostly to all ages in public places.”
She adds, the creation of this event was to show off a vibrant arts culture that couldn’t be seen, “Bands practicing in garages and artists creating artwork in isolated studios and behind walls, in basements. If you are just driving through, you can’t see that, so we wanted to find a way to tell those people that there is a big, vibrant arts scene happening here.
Festival Inspire kicks off on May 12 in Saint John and returns to Moncton in July.
