Up Here reveals their full musical and mural programming
Sudbury’s favourite new urban art and music festival is back for its third edition from Aug. 18-20 in Downtown Sudbury.
Up Here is a public art festival that culminates in an emerging music festival with a tight integration of art installations throughout the city’s core. This year, two muralists and 12 local artists will create 14 new pieces of public art in the weeks leading up to the festival, and 30 of Canada’s best up-and-coming musical acts will perform in over 10 venues during the three-day event.
Two New Murals
Acclaimed Canadian artist Jarus will paint a portrait of a miner as an homage to his grandfather, who was a miner in Sudbury in the ‘60s and ‘70s, thanks to the support of Becker Mining Systems. Originally from Field, Franco-Ontarian Métis artist Mique Michelle will create a colourful piece inspired by her Anishinaabe roots thanks to the support of Collège Boréal.
Power Up Project
New this year, Up Here has formed a partnership with the Social Planning Council and Greater Sudbury Utilities to bring colour to 24 electrical utility boxes within the downtown core. In total, the Power Up Project will give canvasses to 24 local artists, including 12 curated by Up Here and 12 from youth organizations partnering with the Social Planning Council. The local artists invited by Up Here are Kallie Berens-Firth, Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi, Melanie Gail St-Pierre, Madison Kotyluk, Bianca Lefebvre, Matti Lehtelä, Scott Minor, Wild Rice, Hobby Rollin, Julianne Steedman, Dani Taillefer, and Isaac Weber.
“This project is a win-win for all of us. We get to empower youth, support the emerging local arts community, and participate in a global project that has swept cities across the globe from Brisbane to Los Angeles and Calgary. We’re excited to get this pilot project off the ground,” said Wendy Watson, director of communications, Greater Sudbury Utilities.
This project is made possible in part thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Over 30 Shows By Emerging Artists
Up Here is once again curating an ambitious musical program that cultivates the event’s signature sense of curiosity and discovery in festival goers. Over 30 up-and-coming artists will be performing in Sudbury during the event.
The Northern Series presented by Porter Airlines is back this year offering free concerts by emerging musicians from Northern Ontario in small downtown venues between 5 and 7 p.m. Discover the ghost-tinged folk of Jennifer Holub, smoky reflections of Brian Dunn, indie-pop loops of Jamie Gia, and the jack-in-the-box dance music of BBBRTHR.
Friday Aug. 18
Friday’s acts include the eclectic and experimental Whoop-Szo, moog rockers Duchess Says, and unruly pop icons Deerhoof.
Late night lineups include bubble-glam punks Fashionism and iconic garage rockers The Fleshtones at the Townehouse Tavern, presented by Stack Brewing, and noise dancers Eyeballs, mystic crooner Bernardino Femminielli, and the molecular pop duo Ice Cream at Little Montreal.
Saturday Aug. 19
Saturday’s Family Day returns with enhanced programming in Memorial Park and all around Downtown Sudbury. Taking the stage on Family Day: Sudbury’s own pop rockers Tofino, punk rockers The Ape-ettes, the Sudbury-born, female beatbox champion Sparx, and Mozambican electro-pop artist Samito will be sure to keep things cool on a warm day.
Memorial Park will serve as the central playground with music, mini-murals, and other exciting children’s activities provided by the Carrefour francophone; vendors by local artists, artisans set up by Makers North, a gallery tour with the Downtown Sudbury Art Crawl; and a performance of Cello Steps, an interactive project that combines contemporary dance with classic music in a dance mob.
Later, younger audiences can also look forward to an all-ages punk show at Zigs presented by Ottawa Explosion featuring up-and-coming Sudbury punks Kommissars, Ottawa’s absurdo-punks DJ Smoke Weed Guy, Ottawa’s queer hardcore-punks Doxx, and the protopunk baristas Teenanger.
The Saturday night show begins with indie-electro purveyors Fevers, followed by feminist force Lido Pimienta, and the culture-clashing, noh-wave opera group Yamantaka // Sonic Titan.
Nighthawks can head to the Townehouse and Zig’s after for late shows. The Townehouse features the riffs and thrifts of Dirty Princes, the quirky power pop of Dany Laj and the Looks, and a command performance by The Fleshtones presented by Stack Brewing.
Meanwhile, Zig’s features local ‘90s dance inspired trio Telecolor and the smooth beats of Montreal based electronic artist CRi.
Finally, late-night festival goers will be swayed by the exposed voice of Michele Nox backed by raw guitar and transcendent electronic swells.
Pop-Up Shows
The pop-up concerts have quickly become part of the festival’s nature and there will be many more this year thanks to the support of Downtown Sudbury. Festival goers will want to download the official Up Here app to make sure they don’t miss out on spontaneous shows on rooftops, underground chambers, and other unexpected locations. One of the groups that festival goers can expect to see pop up somewhere is DF, an audiovisual duo that merges looping saxophones with beautiful sound activated light installations
Sunday, Aug. 20
On Sunday afternoon, Dear Criminals, the indie-pop group from Montreal, will present 2GPU, a stunning augmented reality concert with 3D projections. The audience is invited to immerse themselves into the musical world of Dear Criminals with the help of complex imagery generated in real-time stereoscopic 3D. The project was developed by David Paquin and the New Media team at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue and is presented by the FME (Emerging Music Festival from Rouyn-Noranda).
Dear Criminals is two voices, one intense and strong, and one vulnerable and fragile, complementing each other in a unique and touching way. This vocal mixture is blended in a textured soundscape created by spellbinding arrangements and wisely chosen instrumentation, creating a musical tone deeply inspired by James Blake, Timber Timbre, and Elysian Fields.
Passports On Sale Now
Early Bird passports have already sold out and regular passports are available at UpHere.com for only $90. Individual tickets for concerts are on sale now.
Community Support
Up Here has been able to thrive with the support of countless community organisations and businesses. A special thanks to Barrydowne Paint, Equipment World, Downtown Sudbury, Porter Airlines, Block Rock North Media, Greater Sudbury Utilities, Collège Boréal, Becker Mining Systems, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Tourism, the City of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury Tourism, FACTOR, Copy Copy Printing, Yallowega Bélanger Salach Architecture, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Downtown Sudbury Art Crawl, Carrefour francophone, Rewind 103.9, Hot 93.5, Radio-Canada, CKLU 96.7 FM, Baron Mag, Stack Brewing, the Ontario Association of Architects, Northern Ontario Society of Architects, Festival de musique émergente, Studio123, Brady Storage Solutions, Vianet, Myths and Mirrors, and many more. To partner up with Up Here, visit UpHere.com.
