“The most magical of Vancouver’s summertime events.” ~Georgia Straight

PUBLIC DREAMS INVITES VANCOUVER OUT TO PLAY

Illuminares Pre-Event Creative Workshops July 20 – 30, 2011

Build a lantern, join a community flash mob, or breathe life into a giant heron puppet!

July 14, 2011 (Vancouver, BC) Illuminares Lantern Festival 2011, now in its 22^nd year, is a series of glowing handmade lantern processions, creative workshops, performances and fantastical happenings. All of the elements combine to celebrate community cooperation, creative expression and revelry. It’s one of the most beloved and well-attended festivals in Vancouver, now at a new location along the Coal Harbour seawall and outside Canada Place.

To lead the lantern procession this year, Public Dreams dreamt big with the creation of a 30-foot illuminated heron puppet.  Inspired by the work of French puppeteers Royal De Luxe and their Giant Little Girl puppet, the giant bird has been built with a cross-sector team of Vancouver’s best puppeteers, designers and engineers.  Now Public Dreams is looking to the community to bring this magnificent creature to life!

In a 2-part puppeting workshop, participants will learn the agile and cooperative craft of maneuvering this giant light-weight bird. Participation is by donation and will include the opportunity to perform the heron at the festival.

Animated by community participants, the Heron will arrive on the shores of Coal Harbour at Harbour Green Park on July 30^th at 5pm to lead the first of the evening’s processions – of humanity following nature. The procession will make its way to Canada Place where the entire promenade will be transformed, illuminated and filled with interactive art and performances!

From July 20^th to July 30^th, members of the community can also take part in Lantern Making Workshops or be a part of the Theatrical Flash Mob and work with a professional theatrical director, choreographer and costume designer to create an interactive performance to present on the evening of Illuminares (July 30th). Check out our full list of workshops and schedule here! Or on our Public Dreams Facebook Page

Let your imagination play, who knows where it will fly!

Click here to watch the video of last year’s Illuminares.

Click here for a gallery of images from Illuminares.
And Now: The Illuminares 2011 Pre-Event Creative Workshops are here!  Follow this link, to find out how you can get involved!

Glowing stars hang in darkened trees; a hypnotic drum beat leads a procession of dancing figures holding fiery torches; stilt walkers stalk through thousands of costumed revelers, together animating a world of their own creation…

Illuminares started as an intimate community get-together and has grown into one of the most beloved and well attended festivals in Vancouver.  Paula Jardine, Leslie Fiddler and Dolly Hopkins were the architects of the first Illuminares at Trout Lake Park in 1989, moved by a desire to be active in creating a neighborhood that they wanted to live in.  Lanterns proved to be an effective medium for the festival as they were simple and inexpensive to make and yet visually stunning.  These glowing artworks found their ideal setting in Trout Lake, with its meandering paths and hidden nooks and crannies, encouraging wanderers to take individual journeys through the magical landscape.

The festival grew quickly to become a major gathering of artists, musicians and performers with eclectic backgrounds.  This simple concept attracted the boundless creativity of professional and amateur creators alike, with a space for every idea to come to fruition.  Such diverse creative energy, set on a framework of myth and ritual, is the key to Illuminares’ popularity.  Our human needs to step outside the mundane world, to lose ourselves in rhythm and wonder, and, most importantly, to have the chance to be the author of our own transformative experience, are all addressed at this celebration.

Prompted by many factors to move to an indoor site in Gastown last year, Illuminares found a welcome home in a new community.  The legacy born of the original participants will continue as a testament to the importance of the artist in community life.