Up Here returns this summer with new murals and a reimagined festival square
After a year on the ground, Up Here is ready for liftoff. Up Here 7 is a reimagined urban art and music festival tailored to the current climate. The festival known for its creation of new murals around the city and presenting emerging artists runs Friday, August 20 to Sunday, August 22, 2021 and is presented by Downtown Sudbury.
Up Here Square
Up Here Square, the festival’s main outdoor site — adorned with its signature geodesic dome, pop-up bar, and DJs — will return to Durham Street.
Photo: Vanessa Tignanelli
“We’ll be opening Up Here Square a week before the festival for it to become a free space for people to safely reconnect with their city, downtown establishments, and each other. With all the patios and bustling activity downtown lately, it really is the place to be. Up Here Square will support those initiatives and grow as our comfort level grows around the idea of gathering together as a community again,” said Christian Pelletier, co-founder of Up Here.
Up Here Square will be open to all at no cost from August 13 to 22, 2021.
Public Art
The seventh edition of Up Here will see the creation of six new murals by artists including internationally acclaimed Canadian muralist Kevin Ledo, designer and tattoo artist Alex Berens, director of the McEwen School of Architecture Dr. Tammy Gaber, social worker and graphic designer Lauren Verwolf, designer and illustrator Sarah Dempsey, and Ethiopian-born multidisciplinary artist DRPN Soul presented in collaboration with Black Lives Matter Sudbury.
Leonard Cohen mural by Kevin Ledo in Montreal
The Power Up Project is back thanks to a continued partnership with Greater Sudbury Utilities. The project allows local artists to paint electrical utility boxes around the city. Local artists invited by Up Here this year include Amanda Durkin (Amandatomical Art), Mélanie Gagné, Jessica Joly, Derek Longe, Gaurav Saini, and Danielle Provencher.
Up Here 7 will also see the creation of four art installations in and around downtown. Installation artists include Studio Nude Beach from North Bay, local Black multidisciplinary artist collective Solaris, Montreal’s paper folder Origami Explorateur, and Toronto-based mixed media artist Casey Watson. The immersive and interactive art installations will be presented on Up Here Square and in vacant storefronts along Cedar during the weekend of August 20-22.
More details about the programming will be announced leading up to the festival on social media.
Up Here is made possible thanks to the community support of countless allies including Presenting Sponsor Downtown Sudbury, Barrydowne Paint, Equipment World, Greater Sudbury Utilities, the Ontario Arts Council, the government of Ontario, Ontario Creates, the City of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury Tourism, RBC Royal Bank, Copy Copy Printing, Studio123, and many more. To partner up with Up Here, visit UpHere.com.