Alberta writers, musicians/bands, performers and exhibitors are invited to submit a request to take part in the second annual Lethbridge The Word On The Street Festival to be hosted once again on the streets around the Lethbridge Public Library Main Branch September 23rd, 2012. In our first year, we were able to showcase 45 authors, 17 live music acts and performers and an amazingly diverse mix of programming activities with one day attendance of approximately 2000 people.
As the only festival of its kind in southern Alberta, the mission for The Word On The Street is multi-faceted; first to connect literary arts and literacy to our communities in southern Alberta; to build bridges across cultures with performances and displays from writers, musicians, performers, theatre groups, spoken word artists and storytellers as integral contributors to Alberta’s heritage and culture; and finally to ensure that the Word On The Street Lethbridge represents the diversity of our community and is accessible to everyone. Most important, we strive to create a festival that is lively, well attended and fun.
In 2012, we intend to attract 4000 people with a powerhouse stage schedule over three primary venues and are interested in hearing from Alberta writers, musicians/bands, performers, exhibitors and food vendors representing a variety of cultural and lifestyle perspectives.
Founded in Toronto 22 years ago and now also including Vancouver, Halifax, Kitchener, Saskatoon, and most recently Lethbridge, The Word On The Street Festival has grown annually to be a major economic and cultural driver in Canada with an overall 2011 attendance of 368,000. The Word On The Street Festival creates an opportunity for our community to enhance and enrich a connection to reading and writing in all its forms by providing a venue to showcase local, provincial and national artistic and literary talent. As the Lethbridge Public Library, our primary mission in hosting this event is to build relationships and community engagement through this festival which is free, family-friendly, inclusive and culturally diverse.
For more information on submission and selection please contact:
Colette Acheson, Project Manager Lethbridge Word On The Street Festival Cell: 1(403) 393-2258 Fax (403) 403-329-1478 Email: colette.acheson@lethlib.ca
Mailing address: Lethbridge Word On The Street Festival c/o LETHBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY 810 5 Avenue South, T1J 4C4
Count me in! I’ve got a first novel out: a ghost story for the 9 – 12 pre-teen audience, and have been working with musicians. Can do jazz poetry, Frank Zappaesque monster poems to music for kids, haiku and related Japanese imagist stuff, even memoir. Might be fun to mix music and poetry… .
Rick Stevenson
That sounds very cool Richard! This year we have 8 people from the Library, Festival team and southern Alberta book community all vetting our author wish list. Stay in touch!