On Friday, September 2, the LUMA Projection Arts Festival is returning to light up the streets of Downtown Binghamton.
Last year, over 25,000 people attended the first LUMA Festival on State Street. According to Conrad Taylor, the director of promotion and volunteer coordination for the LUMA Festival and a junior majoring in political science, the festival is doubling its size this year, spanning five blocks compared to last year’s two.
“The idea was always to grow it,” said Joshua Ludzki, the festival’s co-founder. “In the wrap-up of last year, we were already thinking how [we] can blow people away visually, thematically and artistically for the next year.”
Taylor said that this year, LUMA organizers expanded their outreach beyond the city of Binghamton to attract attendees and sponsors. A public relations team was hired, spreading word of the upcoming event at Spiedie Fest, First Friday, the Broome County Fair and a radio station in Ithaca.
“If you live in Binghamton, you know of LUMA,” Taylor said. “For people outside the area, we want change their perspective about what Binghamton is; this is a city in a major state of rejuvenation. We are actively putting ourselves into other communities to get the word out about the festival.”
One of the biggest additions, according to Ludzki, is a performance from a 48-piece orchestra from the Binghamton Philharmonic synchronized with an animation projection.
“We were looking for the right thing to add something truly spectacular and blow people away,” Ludzki said. “The minute [the Binghamton Philharmonic] called saying they wanted to be involved, we thought it would be an amazing experience. A symphony with a projection mapping … this is not something that has been seen in the U.S., if at all.”
There will also be four projections featured at the event. One is by Nick Rubenstein, one of the festival’s co-producers, who is partnering with Novel Studios, a local animation company. Favorite Color, a company from New York City that does animations for HBO and Disney, is doing two projections. Last year, the company did one.
This year also marks the first year of LUMA’s juried competition, a $5,000 grand-prize contest in which animators across the country submitted their work to be chosen as a projection for the event. According to Ludzki, four or five finalists have been chosen, and the winner will be announced this Friday.
The event is co-presented by Matthews Auto Group and the city of Binghamton. The Kickstarter for the event also aimed to raise $15,000, but so far has raised almost $19,000.
“It’s very gratifying and nice for sponsors to see that people of Binghamton want to get involved,” Ludzki said. “It says something about what this event means for Binghamton.”
With a week left to plan and pull together the finishing details, Taylor said the team is excited for attendees to see the finished product.
“Many people picture Binghamton how it once was, not the potential it has now,” Taylor said. “This year is, by all means, bigger and better.”