Friday night marks the beginning of IGNITE Broward, the county’s immersive art festival. For ten days, sites at Esplanade Park in Fort Lauderdale, Mad Arts in Dania Beach, and Young Circle in downtown Hollywood will be transformed into displays of lights, technology and sound.
According to Phillip Dunlap, director of the county’s arts and cultural division, the free event is Broward’s opportunity to claim its identity in the arts and culture space in South Florida.
“There’s a desire here to have something that’s ours, especially an arts event,” he said. “When you have something like Miami Art Week and Art Basel down with our neighbors to the south, how do we carve out our unique arts and cultural niche instead of copying what other folks are doing?”
IGNITE Broward began in 2021 as a way to help people experience art during the pandemic when social distancing measures prevented large gatherings. Three projections, designed by local artists, were displayed on buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Now the festival has doubled its run time and expanded to sites across the county. It will also feature artist talks, DJ/VJ sets and concerts. In turn, its budget has grown to $975,000, funded by the county. That number includes $150,000 from the City of Hollywood this year to take the festival south.
READ MORE: Broward County launches $1 million fund to support art festivals and cultural events
Dunlap says that although the festival has grown tremendously, the cultural division has worked to create opportunities for local artists.
“ This becomes a development opportunity and a career advancement opportunity for local artists to get into those national and international art festivals that in the same vein as IGNITE,” he said.
The festival’s focus on technology can also help those artists grow creatively. Chrolik, a South Florida multimedia artist, has her exhibit “Digital Archive” displayed at Mad Arts. It used a LiDAR scanner to capture 3-D images of floral arrangements, saving them forever in the digital space. Viewers can even interact with the scanner to make themselves appear in the projections.
”With immersive art, it’s just becoming so much more multi sensory, so much more interactive. There’s so much blend of the body interacting with the art in ways, in other senses that we haven’t experienced yet,” she said.
Rosanna Kalis, a Fort Lauderdale-based artist with a background in large scale paintings and murals, created “Press Play.” It uses digital projections to expand her large scale paintings, adding movement, music and color.
“ With the projection-mapping, you’re adding storytelling as well. To me, that enhances the entire experience of it, to create that connection with the art, and the emotions that come with it,” she said.
Dunlap says that creating opportunities for development for artists like Kalis and Chrolik will be crucial to the growth of the festival.
“ We almost create an ecosystem and a built-in mechanism to develop new art that can be displayed at IGNITE, but also that artists can take and help advance their careers,” said Dunlap.
And he says the growth of the festival means the growth of Broward County’s cultural relevance.
“ We have a story to tell, and we have a lot to be proud of here. Events like IGNITE and its focus and involvement with local artists can help elevate that conversation and provide that visibility and that story that we can be proud of and want to tell everybody who we are,” he said.
A free shuttle service is available to take guests between the festival’s three locations.
IF YOU GO
What: IGNITE Broward
When: Feb. 14-23
Where: Esplanade Park Fort Lauderdale, Young Circle Hollywood, and Mad Arts Dania Beach
How much: Free
For more information, visit the festival’s website.
