Awesome as they are, the headliners at the July 6-8 Northern Lights Festival Boréal — which include the legendary Buffy Sainte-Marie — are just the tip of the iceberg.
Here's a new one this year: a rock n’ roll boat cruise featuring members of iconic Canadian rock bands like Sloan, The Inbreds, and The Pretty Lights.
NLFB has partnered with local indie show presenters Party Cannon to present this one of a kind musical cruise aboard the William Ramsey.
Indie rock super-group TUNS will play on-board this party vessel, accompanied by local all-girl garage-punk outfit The Ape-ettes. The Party Cannon Pirate Cruise will depart from the Science North dock, July 8 at 3 p.m.
The festival includes more than 50 artists and roughly 100 performances.
This year NLFB’s Arts Village is adopting a new format – artists will present installations, performances, video works, exhibitions, and a drop-in workshop. The
Arts Village tent will be used as a relaxing family area, where festival-goers can comfortably enjoy some shade and experiment with our participatory projects.
Keep an eye out (in the dark) for video and laser installations by artists Clayton Windatt (Sturgeon Falls) and Chris Cirelli (Sudbury).
Back for another year is Sudbury’s free-form art collective heARTworks who will be presenting various ‘up-cycled’ installations and décor inspired by the energy of the festival.
Nico Glaude (Sudbury, Ontario) has a few tricks up his sleeve and will be presenting a contemporary installation exploring artwork festival artists drew as children.
This year the visual performances will come to you. Chris Thériault and crew (Sudbury) will be roaming the grounds juggling, while Myths and Mirrors will be back with stilt walkers and giant puppets in their newly formed group Bwaajigiwin.
Sarah King Gold (Sudbury) will bring a participatory project which involves clown performance and the installation of shrines acknowledging the Earth as the source of all we hold dear.
Additional video works will be presented in the evening at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre. Works by local filmmaker Darlene Naponse (Atikameksheng Anishawbek, Ontario) and Amanda Strong (Vancouver, British Columbia) will illustrate how contemporary Indigenous artists are working today.
Naponse's short film entitled Lifeblood: that which connects us, explores water and our connection to it. Strong's animated short Four Faces of the Moon explores reclamation of language and Nationhood, while her stop-motion piece Hipster Headress unapologetically addresses issues of cultural appropriation.
For more information about the festival, and for tickets, visit nlfb.ca.
