Broadway and the environs of downtown Lorain will light up with music, dance, fire and visual art from a number of artists in this year’s FireFish Festival, the event planners said.
The third annual free arts festival will grow to two days of installations and performances, culminating in “a pyrotechnic eruption” on Black River Landing.
FireFish festival on Aug. 28 announced its event schedule.
The FireFish arts festival supporters “dared to reimagine what downtown Lorain could be,” said Executive Director James Levin.
And it’s working, Levin added, with Lorain attracting new stores, recording studios and bars.
“Similar to what Public Theatre brought to Gordon Square and what the Ingenuity Festival brought to East 4th Street, this festival is the impetus for the reinvention of Lorain as a dynamic, artistic mecca,” Levin said. “By bringing together local and regional visual, performing, and installation artists, some experimenting with the forms of fire in their art and presented in places that you may not expect, we have created an unforgettable one-of-a-kind arts festival.
“And we are happy this year to offer northeastern Ohio two days to visit this gem on the water.”
FireFish will launch Oct. 6 with The Morning Journal FireFish Festival Kick-Off Concert at the loading dock of the Old Lorain Post Office on Eighth Street, according to festival plans.
The show has scheduled the salsa/fusion band Grupo Fuego, hip-hop by the Wrecking Crew Red Panda Bears and the country band Black Horse with DJ Roberta Rosa spinning an eclectic mix of world music.
The visual arts program will feature artist Kevin Jackson’s large-scale projection mapping transformation of the facade of the old Lorain Post Office, Anachrotech.
Visitors can return on Saturday for nonstop family fun sponsored by Horizon Education Centers with music, dance, theatre and art at the BRIAR at Seventh Street and Broadway.
Additional art fare will be at the galleries on Broadway from Sixth to Ninth streets, stages set up on Broadway, next to the Lorain Palace Theater and the Old Post Office and various alleys, fire escapes and public spaces.
The event has netted numerous sponsorships and local business support.
This year, Lorain County Community College will have extensive involvement in the festival, said LCCC President Marcia Ballinger.
The college’s Fab Lab at the Campana Center for Ideation and Invention will be the center for artists and students creating the FireFish centerpiece.
Jackson, a projection artist, also provides technical support for LCCC’s distance learning program.
“FireFish is a wonderful example of how the arts can unite our community through a celebration of creativity, technology and invention,” Ballinger said. “The only way to make a new future for Lorain County is by imagining it and creating it together.
“The FireFish Festival is an important part of our county’s creative evolution.”
Read the article on The Morning Journal.