At an upcoming inaugural festival in Northside, thinking inside the box offers the clearest route to creativity.
parProjects, a two-man artist group, is launching its fundraising and programming effort for their art and education center made mostly out of repurposed shipping containers by hosting the Factory Square Fine Arts Festival Oct. 22-23. It takes shape in the lot in front of the new
American Can Lofts, the space set to be the future home of the art center. The festival features 14 temporary exhibition spaces inside of shipping containers, large-scale sculpture displays by international and local artists, live music by
Far-I-Rome Productions and a full complement of food and drinks.
Soapbox is proud to serve as the festival's official media sponsor.
A portion of the festival will also be housed in the industrial bays of the American Can Lofts. An encore to the popular
City Flea will fill one of the bays. World-renowned South African sculptor,
Ledelle Moe will also have works inside the bay. Several other artists from DAAP and Northside's
Prairie Gallery will also display work on site.
After a year of negotiating and planning with several partners, including the City of Cincinnati, Jonathan Sears and Chris Hoeting, founders of parProjects, look forward to seeing their dream come to fruition. They hope to gain backing for their arts center through ongoing outreach and programming efforts. "We want to involve as many people as we can in this city," says Sears. "There is a great appreciation of the arts, and we want to create something special."
During the festival, visitors can preview the arts center that will use shipping containers as building blocks and employ a variety of green building methods. With a target completion date in 2012, the arts center plan includes resident artists programs, collaborative arts education programs and exhibition spaces. Part of the center will also be detachable and serve as a mobile exhibition space.
By Evan Wallis
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