Nuit Blanche Calgary launches on September 15, 2012 with six amazing time-based performance art events at Olympic Plaza in downtown Calgary – all free to the public, from 7:00PM until 3:00AM, and you’re invited!

Nuit Blanche has come to signify a late-night international contemporary arts festival appealing to diverse, adventurous audiences. Held worldwide since 1997 in Toronto, Paris, Halifax and other cities, Nuit Blanche festivals literally transform urban spaces into full-scale civic art galleries. Calgarians will extend the tradition of the Nuit Blanche festival by presenting socially engaged intimate encounters with live art that fuses the authentic with the fantasy of an island of understated spectacle. All performances are inclusive, playful and geared toward a mass, all-ages audience.

Nuit Blanche Calgary presents a range of intimately scaled experiences by the most surprising performance artists working today including the renowned Quebec-based artist trio, BGL premiering a novel eight person carrousel energized by Parkour athletes, Caitlind Brown’s hypnotic CLOUD comprised of 5,000 light bulbs, Emily Promise Allison’s moving performance My Mother Calls Me A Rabbit, and Theo Sims’ subtle and unassuming live ‘pub’ sculpture, The Candahar, and… don’t miss the Calgary artist collective Sophie Farewell as it introduces the best town criers in the world. Nuit Blanche Calgary presents a diverse line up of live performance art as a novel catalyst for late night conversation, debate and dialogue in downtown Calgary. Each performance art event is a unique, personal experience and will only succeed with public participation!

Nuit Blanche Calgary also invites the late night participation of independent, parallel performance art events including Derek Besant at the Museum of Contemporary Art Calgary (at City Hall), TRUCK Gallery’s Bike-In film projection lodged in a mobile camper, while the nearby Stride Gallery presents new work by Suzen Green and Bill Morton, and The New Gallery exhibits Jay Mosher and Rory Middleton’s “Talisman”. Check gallery listings for hours and program details.

Nuit Blanche Calgary Society was founded as a non-profit cultural organization in 2010 and is generously supported by our producing partners, the Alberta College of Art + Design and the City of Calgary – Culture Department. Additional support is gratefully provided by Calgary2012, Calgary Arts Development, EDCO Financial Holdings Ltd., Tooth Blackner Presents, Orange Frog Productions, IMCA, Corus Entertainment, MOCA, Tourism Calgary, Village Brewery, No Limits AFC, West Canadian, McAra Printing, AECOM Engineering, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Jake Lim Design, and our many Nuit Blanche Calgary volunteers and anonymous donors.

A special thank you to Jane Snyder, DJ Kelly, Tyler S. Shandro, Dr. Daniel Doz, Ann Lewis-Luppino, Sarah Smalik, Pierre Marleau, Colin Pollard, Christina Mayder, Angie Snyder, Marianne Elder, Karen Ball, Beth Gignac, Alex Keim, Trish Neufeld, Quyen Hoang, Maggie Schofield & Downtown Biz, Jeffrey Spalding, Rachael Seupersad, Quyen Hoang, and Garth Jones.