Our first visioning session for the new year took place at the Luminara studio on Saturday January 30, with results posted on our Vision for 2010 page.  We also gathered a group of representatives from community centres, community associations and groups for a meeting on February 24.  Results and follow up from that meeting will be available next week.  We are interested in hearing from everyone who would like to be part of this planning process, it's going well so far!  Please contact us if you are interested.

Karin Scarth, Luminara Festival Director
250-388-4728 ext 129; or kscarthicavictoria [dot] org
 

Press release from December 2009

Transformation on the way for Luminara 2010
VICTORIA, BC, CANADA (December 8, 2009)

Faced with recent news of funding cuts and timing changes from major sponsors and funders, planning for Luminara 2010 has taken a new turn. Festival staff at the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA) have confirmed that the annual festival will not be possible in the form it has taken for the past ten years. The challenging financial climate presents an opportunity to recreate the Luminara tradition in a way that is more inclusive, participatory and responsive to local concerns.

“We’ve been extremely fortunate over the last ten years to have had very supportive local sponsors, but we’re now feeling the effects of the broader economy on the organizations which have been able to support the festival in the past.” said Jean McRae, ICA Executive Director. “Despite the sudden mid-festival rainstorm, Luminara 2009 did well financially, incurring just a small deficit. Based on that, we were prepared to go ahead with planning as usual for 2010, but over the past few months we’ve seen almost half of our potential funding either disappear or the timelines have been pushed back to the point where we won’t be able to access funds in time for a July festival.”

Given the reality that Luminara will not be able to afford the annual July festival in Beacon Hill Park, festival organizers have been going back to basics – the roots of community celebration. “We’re very interested in how Luminara can be more strongly based on a community arts approach to celebration.” said Karin Scarth, Luminara Festival Director. “We want to establish a new, diverse, inclusive, neighbourhood-based, economically and logistically sustainable foundation for the Luminara Lantern Festival tradition in Victoria. We don’t know exactly what it will be yet, and it’s hard to lose the festival that we have had all these years. But it’s exciting that the new form will come out of engaging with the social ecology of the community.”

Plans for September to November 2010 include community celebration research and capacity building, through creative workshops and meetings in community centres, working with diverse cultural groups to create new celebrations of traditional festivals, and local neighbourhood lantern processions. Workshops and meetings will have the familiar creative sparkle and glow, led by community artists as part of the Luminara team.

ICA is grateful to sponsors, volunteers, community for making Luminara the great event it has been for the past ten years. We look forward to working with all who care about the festival to find new and sustainable ways to keep the tradition alive, and will be holding planning sessions in the new year.

Please contact Karin Scarth at ICA for more information, 250-3884728 ext 129 or kscarthicavictoria [dot] org