Magazine, News, People, Pulse, Totnes Town

The Bright Lights

by The Totnes Pulse

Totnes is no stranger to a good lantern festival…

…but this one is planning to be slightly different.
The focus is specifically on the crisis we now face regarding the alarming awareness of species extinction.

Steve Nayer

Steve Nayar is a local artist who has dedicated his work to highlight endangered species and works closely with WWF who have offered to lend their support. He is also Chair of the local Totnes and Dartington Open Studios and part of the Totnes Climate Change Emergency Group. For the past three years he has been a nominated finalist for Wildlife Artist of the Year.

Steve says: “I envision a celebratory event that will bring the whole community together. I intend to outline my vision at the meeting and to highlight what needs to be achieved for the festival to be a success. Although a few of us have already made some progress, there’s a lot that needs to be done and we hope to build a core teams of people who are happy to get involved. We want to involve a wide range of activities alongside the lanterns, including performance, poetry, dance and music. We are so fortunate that Totnes offers such a wealth of talent. This is such an opportunity for us all to come together and express our concerns for the environment and yet, celebrate life and wellbeing in a festival of light and hope. Schools are at the heart of the community, and are invited to be involved. We hope we can build a team of makers to support the children and staff in creating some delightful lanterns and imaginative ways to participate. We have a year, but that is not long to plan everything, achieve essential funding and coordinate all the various parties to achieve a memorable and enjoyable event.”

Image by Wendy Howarth from 2011

The next meeting is in the Guildhall on the 21st November at 7:30pm. It’s a great opportunity to find out what’s going on and to get involved. Fell free to invite a friend too. You don’t have to be artistically gifted, there’s lots for everyone to do over the coming months, not just making lanterns.

We want to celebrate the amazing species that share our planet. This is the kind of project that succeeds when the community pull together to support it and can be destined to be another future landmark event for the town which encorages visitors and a vibrancy that Totnes is known for.
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