CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — This year’s Art in the Open festival will be taking over Charlottetown today without its signature event — the March of the Crows.
Now in its 10th year, Art in the Open is a free event showcasing Charlottetown’s arts community, along with the green and heritage spaces it fills.
There will still hopefully be plenty of crows around as attendees are encouraged to dress up anyway, said Ghislaine Cormier, executive director of Fédération culturelle de l'ÎPÉ, which helps run the festival.
“We went back and forth with public health for a long time until we had to call it at the end of July,” she said. “We decided to, instead of completely cancelling it, (to invite) the people to actually partake in Art in the Open, see the installations and dress up.”
There will also be a crow-oriented replacement event at Victoria Park, The Flock, at dusk. It’s being prepared by Megan Stewart, the original creator of the march, and two visiting artists from Nova Scotia in association with River Clyde Pageant, said Cormier.
“It’s a giant crow that will be roaming the streets of Charlottetown . … With the guidelines for health and safety we really couldn’t go forward with the march, but I feel everybody’s going to be really thrilled to see that tidbit of the march or that whole element.”
Other coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) considerations were minor, as the festival has always operated as an open-air art exhibit. They include sanitizing stations with hand sanitizer available at information booths and not having any scheduled exhibits to avoid gathering people. Masks are also recommended.
Art in the Open has also partnered with the Black Cultural Society of P.E.I. for a three-night pop-up drive-in movie event, “Our Lives, Our Stories,” in the parking lot along Terry Fox Drive behind the Shaw building.
Curated by Nova Scotian filmmaker Sylvia D. Hamilton, the drive-in will feature a selection of Canadian-made movies highlighting Black experiences and stories, said Cormier.
“The reason we picked that spot is because that spot specifically in Charlottetown is called the Bog, which is where the Black neighbourhood was, so it was sort of representative of that.”
Art in the Open runs Saturday, Aug. 29, from 4 p.m. to midnight.
