The Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HFA) is calling for artists to join this year’s Nuit Blanche North.
The night of July 22, dozens of interactive art pieces will line Huntsville’s downtown core for residents and visitors to experience. Dan Watson, the HFA’s Executive Director, says 2023’s theme reflects the world at large.
“This year’s theme for Nuit Blanche North is ‘That’s When Everything Changed,’ so we’re exploring the idea of change,” says Watson. “Whether that’s personal or in terms of a community, change can bring about a lot of challenges but it can also bring out a lot of opportunity. So what we’re asking is that artists respond to that idea and come with their proposals.”
According to Watson, works will need to be interactive in some way. He says that could be anything from having paints on-site to add to a collaborative art piece, to having visitors record their voices, or displaying QR codes for a multimedia piece.
“It could be that there’s some sort of element where the audience is contributing to it by being there,” says Watson. “It’s got to be an idea that goes beyond a sort of traditional art exhibition form, and that it invites visitors and the audience to take part.”
Watson says that while they tend to prefer visual art, any medium is alright, provided it is interactive.
“It could be anything, could be visual art, music, theatre, film, could be a mixture of a lot of different things,” says Watson. “So we’re excited to be bringing back Nuit Blanche North for another year, and we hope artists respond well to it.”
Watson says they have 25 to 30 spots available, with successful applicants getting up to $3,000 to realize their idea.
“Oftentimes things in the artistic process change and morph, so it doesn’t have to be something that is totally filled out, it could just be the seed of an idea,” says Watson. “We’re more than happy to try and nurture that and work with artists.”
Applications are open until March 31. Criteria and application forms can be found at the event website.