Telling Michigan’s Best Stories
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GRAND RAPIDS | KALAMAZOO | MUSKEGON | 10.29.23
When we chose the stories for this edition, all the events and dates were accurate. As always, find the most-up-to-date information on the business/event/activity website, Facebook page or other direct information source.
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New Jackson festival plans to continue where Bright Walls left off
CHLOE MILLER | cmiller@mlive.com
JACKSON, MI
t’s been more than a year since the Bright Walls Mural Festival finale took place in downtown Jackson. It left behind 75 murals painted by international artists, as well as some local talent. However, as some were disappointed to see the festival make its end, many residents have been asking organizers “What’s next?” A new festival featuring lights, projections and other forms of technology aims to be the answer. The event called Emerging Technology in Art Festival is planned for 3 p.m. to sunset Saturday, Oct. 14, in the parking lot behind Veritas, 151 W. Michigan Ave., which was also where the first Bright Walls festival took place. The event is free and open to the public. “We felt that Bright Walls helped start a lot of conversations around public art in Jackson, and really opened the community up to all sorts of new ideas to what’s possible for large scale arts and cultural events in Jackson,” Festival Technical Coordinator Matt Rozenski said. The new event is being organized by volunteer members of the Jackson Young Professionals; the same organization that also helped run Bright Walls. Plans for this festival began back in February with the hope to keep the art scene alive in downtown Jackson, Rozenski said. While there won’t be permanent murals like Bright Walls left in downtown, unique art displays focused around media and
technology will take up parts of downtown. Around nine outdoor installations are planned from artists throughout Michigan and other parts of the U.S. Light installations, projection mappings and an interactive augmented reality display will be part of the new event. People can also expect to find a 3D printing demonstration inside Jackson School of Arts, 135 W. Cortland St. There will also be a collaborative community floral installation, where residents can either bring their own flowers, or use the ones provided to help build an art piece from Detroit-based artist Lisa Waud, Rozenski said. An additional Detroit-based artist, Yazmin Dababneh, will also arrive Monday, Oct. 9 to install her work early. Dababneh will be coating the lights used for the murals and the alley by Jackson City Hall, 161 W. Michigan Ave., in dichroic film, that will turn them from white to a rainbow glow. “It’s going to be interesting to look at and create this mystery of what’s to come,” Rozenski said. Aside from the art installations, Rozenski is also excited to offer live music at the festival. The lineup features One More Time, a Daft Punk tribute band; Command Prompt, a Jackson-based electronic band, and Ann Arbor’s Ki5. While Clay McAndrews, Jackson’s Bright Walls founder and co-director, is not involved with the project, he is excited to see the art scene continuing in downtown Jackson. He hopes Jackson residents welcome
this event with open arms, just like they did Bright Walls. “It’s something new, something different and something unique to allow community members to experience what might otherwise be featured maybe in a larger city in Jackson,” McAndrews said. More information can be found on Emerging Technology in Art Festival’s website, etajackson.com, and Facebook page.
INFO This article is curated from mlive.com and ran prior to this edition’s printing, as such the event date may have passed. As always, find the most-up-to-date information on the event/ activity website, Facebook page or other direct information source.
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Telling Michigan’s Best Stories Join us as we explore Michigan to find the best our state has to offer. Follow along as we travel to find and tell stories about Michigan’s best adventures, foods, events, nature, innovations, businesses, and communities. Your source for feel-good, positive Michigan news. Find us on MLive.com/MichigansBest and our social channels.
MLiveMIBest #ITriedMIBest MLive.com/MichigansBest 10527238-03