For a little more than two years now, I’ve been making Kitchener’s Night\Shift nocturnal adventure festival as a volunteer. I do it because I want to help encourage and challenge the people of Waterloo Region to recognize their collaborative potential. I want them to
reimagine where they live and work by embracing a range of creative visions, intriguing technologies, hidden treasures and uses of the built environment, and the magic of unplanned moments of interaction.
Night\Shift celebrates community, creativity, ingenuity and exploration. The free, walkable festival features local artists, entrepreneurs, cultural organizations and community builders who come together to produce dozens of ephemeral attractions at indoor and outdoor locations in downtown Kitchener. Thousands bundle up to wander around after dark, searching for surprises, strange experiences and exciting possibilities in their city’s nooks and crannies, cultural touchstones, commercial hubs and heritage buildings.
Night\Shift’s organizing team fuels this wide-eyed social catharsis by conceptualizing the festival and the spaces it occupies; brokering deals and organizing production; raising funds to cover the costs of programming and operations; as well as developing, promoting and delivering marketing materials and participatory opportunities to draw an audience. The festival proactively sparks a dynamic expression of downtown and highlights the ongoing awesome activities of its subcultures and fringe communities. It also offers an incredibly valuable platform for local artists and art supporters – so much so that Night\Shift was named Best New Festival at this year’s Waterloo Region Arts Awards .
A third annual version of the festival is currently being produced, with plans to expand to include three days of programming over Halloween weekend this autumn. We have a promising and highly accessible theme – Costuming the Core – that has attracted nearly 30 programming proposals and a solid foundation of funding and partnership from the City of Kitchener , the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation and the Good Foundation .
Now we need a push to help us realize Night\Shift 2015’s vision and impact as fully as possible. We’re on the hunt for financial contributions, in-kind support and other customized programming partnerships. We’d love the opportunity to collaborate with a wide range of individuals and organizations who see a high return on investing in a nocturnal adventure festival in downtown Kitchener.
Please check out our 2015 sponsorship opportunities package and consider joining Night\Shift as a sponsor. For more details, questions or to get the ball rolling, contact Eric Rumble at e ric @ nightshiftwr.ca .
