Sat 2/23 @3PM
Brite Winter in itself is a unique event: a one-day free music festival in the dead of Cleveland winter, Brite is known for its five stages spread out throughout the West Bank of the Flats featuring both touring and local music groups. But beyond the fantastic nonstop simultaneous music performances, Brite Winter and their creative companions offer something special to the broader artistic community. Celebrating its 10th birthday, this music festival continues to shift itself more robustly towards visual arts and community participation.
Brite has always strived for inclusivity, but in the past years especially, it’s found a way to formally open its doors to people of all skill sets and interests to learn and collaborate creatively. Emily Appelbaum, the artistic director of both Brite Winter and Ingenuity Cleveland, explains that now it’s about “building something larger than the sum of its parts.”
And that is being accomplished through large-scale, immersive art installations created with public workshops. Following this year’s theme of Onward, Ingenuity’s community of artist appropriately named the “Ingeneers” and other partners have lead those workshops, assembling entire landscapes of installations, while also teaching creative skills like upcycling, improv acting techniques, board game design and more. Emily describes those public workshops, often with live DJs, stir fry or breakfast burritos, roundtable discussions with all involved, and this year, a dedicated family day with kid-friendly activities.
Programs like these change the public impact of the event, switching out this one-day-experience with an entire collaborative effort leading not only to the final presentation, but creating a ripple effect throughout all of Cleveland. Artists begin contracting on their own and expanding their network and more partnerships are forged for events like Brite Winter and Winteractive.
CoolCleveland reporter Jenna Thomas asked, “Do you guys ever get completely random people, their first time in the space, show up to an Ingeneer night or public workshop and immediately fall in love?”
“Absolutely. That’s how we met Michelle Nguyen, who is now the coordinator of Ignite! for Ingenuity Cleveland. A lot of the people we see every week found us on Facebook and have stuck around for years.”
She continues, “Really, it’s a very universal need, and too often people will come around and say, ‘Wow. I’ve always wanted to be an artist like you guys’. But there is no us and you. We’re all co-creating this together. People are almost embarrassed about not creating in the same way that you would embarrassed about not going to the gym. It’s this same expression that you haven’t taken care of this really important part of yourself. And the value is amplified because the public values it — you’re doing it in a way that gives back to the whole community.”
Attend Brite Winter on Sat 2/23 @ 3pm-1am in the West Bank of the Flats. Themed tents, including By Land, By Sea and The Hangar, will feature the collaborative projects that have been months in the making. View the full art lineup here and the music lineup here.
[Written by Jenna Thomas]
Cleveland, OH 44113