May 18, 2020 at 4:48 p.m.
Project North organizers look to the future following postponement announcement
Project North organizers look to the future following postponement announcement
By Stephanie Kuski-
According to Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lauren Sackett, the Project North Festival remains postponed until September 2021.
Organizers of the art, music and sustainability festival, which drew a crowd of over 1,200 people last year, announced the postponement earlier this month.
On Thursday, the River News asked Sackett if Wednesday's ruling overturning Gov. Tony Evers' Safer at Home public health order might cause Project North organizers to change their mind about the postponement.
"I would say probably no," Sackett said. "I haven't met with the committee yet but because of how reliant we are on local businesses and organizations we did feel that regardless of what was happening in terms of social distancing and regulations that we're going to need some recovery time before we could hold that event. We have already pushed contracts that we had in place for the event to 2021. I doubt we're going to make that change."
Project North debuted with its inaugural festival in 2019, and although there will be a year hiatus between the first and second festivals, Sackett said the overarching vision will remain a constant.
"The mission of Project North remains the same," Sackett said. "We had many of our plans in place for 2020 (and) we are doing our best to just push all those plans to 2021. Some, if not all, of the bands we had booked we hope to bring to the 2021 festival."
While the mission of Project North will stay the same, Melinda Childs of ArtStart, a partner in organizing the event, noted the implementation of that vision is shifting.
"As of right now, everything is shifting," Childs said. "We had a lot of ideas this year we were going to put off for next year because we needed more time. So hopefully everything we already had planned will shift to next year, plus because we have more time, we'll be able to line up a few more collaborations and efforts."
In addition to second-year tweaks, Childs said the organizing committee is also looking at applying for more funding to bring in more demonstrations and speakers.
The extra time also affords event organizers an opportunity to step back and think deeper about how the needs of the community align with the goals of Project North.
"In the past month, I've been part of conversations about more collaborations and deeper partnerships," Childs explained. "Nothing is in stone yet, but it was encouraging... to hear some people talking about how bringing some of those elements to Rhinelander beyond the Sustainability Fair and Project North could be a possibility."
Year-round programming, educational opportunities and different cultural events could potentially become an off-shoot of Project North 2021, Childs said.
To that end, event organizers are considering ways organizations like ArtStart and Nicolet can work collaboratively to complement each other in ways that benefit the community at large.
"It's kind of cool how things change and you adapt," Childs commented. "Through something like COVID, it becomes more clear what the needs of the community are, what the resources are and how we can leverage those resources to meet the needs of the community."
Childs said the vision of Project North is an overarching umbrella of economic and cultural development, coupled with entrepreneurship, artist-run businesses, local food systems, environmental sustainability, art and cultural events, which in turn becomes both an educational opportunity and community outreach.
"We're taking this time to assess that umbrella and all of those programs, and what the community needs are in those areas," Childs explained. "We're thinking more strategically about how these partnerships can deepen and complement each other, and not compete, but offer a wider variety of programming by pooling their resources."
Much of the excitement surrounding the possibilities of the future of Project North stems from the contagious creative energy that was present before, during and well after the 2019 festival. The hope is to continue riding that wave of energy as plans for the 2021 festival move forward.
"I was really bummed when we had to cancel Project North because I feel like beyond putting on an event, we created an energy," Childs commented. "That energy was there that weekend, but it was also there in the planning and the buzz leading up to it, and it was there after the event."
"It truly is a community-planned event, from committees made up of volunteers, to asking for suggestions and input online," she continued. "The more you engage people, the more their ownership and commitment towards an event like that rises. To me, that created this energy ... and it was a really hard decision to cancel it because that energy is so needed right now."
"But I do think the fact that energy was here, it's not going to dissipate before next year," Childs said, "and it may be rerouted into some new avenues that we didn't anticipate when we were planning the first event."
When asked what community members can do to keep that energy going, Childs suggested supporting local artists and nonprofit organizations in any way possible.
"I think that participating in things at a hyperlocal level, be it where you get your food or how you're spreading joy or how you're helping your neighbor, is the epitome of that Project North energy," Childs noted.
Those interested in joining Project North in its mission to bring art, music and culture to our area are welcome. The various committees are always looking for volunteers, and volunteers also get free entrance to the festival. Visit www.projectnorth.org for more information on volunteering as well as a link to make donations.
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