Créa Colour Skate Party Friday in Moncton

Créa Moncton brought life and colour to Main street over the Holiday season. Now, the people that bring you Festival Inspire present Moncton’s first ever Colour Skate Party, to celebrate its three month success!

The Créa Colour Skate Party is a free event open to everyone, aiming to draw people Downtown to one of the city’s most colourful winter public spaces – City Hall Ice Pond. The event celebrates the success of Project Créa – three months of entrepreneurial / artistic pop-up shops and an open art gallery on Main Street. As its first trial comes to a close the Créa team invites the public to come celebrate with them this Friday.

Créa Moncton exhibited works of local artists in windows of businesses, cafés, restaurants, and vacant spaces along Main Street as well as filling two vacant spaces with pop-up shop style galleries / shops at 735 and 575 Main. The project was designed to boost vibrancy in Moncton’s downtown and offer outlets for expression and increased visibility to the growing number of artists in the region.

“We have a lot of artists in Moncton; our projects makes it possible to offer them the space to create and share their work with residents and passers by. By the same token, its equally important for us to offer residents the space to live a more vibrant, more dynamic urban lifestyle,” says Matthew Williston, Creative Director of Project Créa & Festival Inspire.

Over 22 local artists were engaged through the project, some of them exhibiting their works for the first time. Local artist Lysanne Lombard ran one of the pop-up shops – a commercial art gallery known as Mugsey’s.

“I really enjoyed the knowledge I gained from this program and now I understand the steps I need to take to make this a reality in the future. Moncton needs more programs like this that can nurture creative minds,” states the artist, who is currently looking for ways to make the continuation of her shop a reality.

In the wake of the three month incubation period the Créa Team is hosting a celebration of the project’s success, this time outside City Hall; a fitting place being that the team works closely all year round with the City to bring life into Downtown. The Colour Skate Party will take place at 655 Main Street from 5 pm to 9 pm, this Friday February 5th with good music, the chance to grab a hot chocolate or a winter cocktail, and go for a skate or a dance in a downtown lit with colour. Several live artists and a food truck will also be on site.

“With everything we do, we aim to take art from behind closed doors and reinvent our public spaces. As the project comes to a close we would love for everyone to come out and celebrate with us, a successful project, and a community that has shown it comes together in the opportunities for continual reinvention, with art, culture, and colour,” states Executive Director of Festival Inspire and the Créa Project, Lisa Griffin

So bring your skates, your friends and family and come celebrate Downtown Moncton!