175 days. A little less than 6 months.

As we settle into some holiday relaxation – or at least a different kind of frazzle – June 14, Northern Spark,  seems like a long way off. But we have learned from experience that it’s not. The deadline for project proposals is open through January 13 and partner proposals still have some leeway as well, so we don’t even know the full line up of the program yet. At the same time, web deadlines, print deadlines, contract deadlines, permit deadlines, kicksstarter campaign deadlines, sponsor support deadlines, press deadlines, budget deadlines are all advancing like demographics, inexorably.

Over the next 175 days, I want to give an insider perspective on putting this event together. Not just the daily what-I-had-for-breakfast minutia or the here-comes-the-next-appeal appeal, although I’m sure some of that will be mixed in. It’s part of our friending, tweeting, rough and tumblring micro-cultures that sustain the new environment of Sustainability, Resiliency, and Innovation we all find ourselves in.

But I’m also interested in sharing our version, or at least my version of the thrill of victory and agony of defeat that is the human drama of artistic experimentation at Northern Spark’s free, annual, multidisciplinary, multi-venue, multiple partner, dusk-to-dawn, public arts festival.

Sincerely,

Steve Dietz
Founder and Artistic Director, Northern Spark