Lumière Arts Festival

Contemporary Art in Unconventional Spaces
September 28, 2024

Schedule of Events

Thursday, September 26th

Beginning at Dusk

Short Films at the Drive In

Cape Breton Drive In – Grand Lake Road

Learn more

Friday, September 27th

7-9pm

Artist Talks and Social

Eltuek Arts Centre – 170 George Street

Saturday, September 28th

1-4pm

Lantern Making Workshops

McConnell Memorial Library, Wilfred

Oram Centennial Library, New Waterford

Urban Centre, CBICI

Featured Artists

Sue Goyette

Sue Goyette

Sue Goyette lives in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) and has published several books of poems and a novel. Sue has been offering community writing workshops for over two decades and has been a faculty member of the Creative Writing Program at Dalhousie University for over fifteen years.

Jessie Donaldson

Jessie Donaldson

Jessie Donaldson is an interdisciplinary artist based in the Maritimes. Freedom to experiment, ample solitude, and occasional collaboration are essential to her practice, and she loves the delightful and unpredictable processes and results that come from interacting creatively with other people.

Isaac Gould and Chanelle Julian

Isaac Gould and Chanelle Julian

Chanelle and Isaac are 2Spirit artists from Eskasoni, NS. Their Collaborations come from 2 different perspectives and art styles that merge well together.

Arjun Lal

Arjun Lal

Arjun Lal is an interdisciplinary artist based in K’jipuktuk. Through sculptural and performance based work they fuel discussions on themes including colonialism/post-colonialism and queer futurity through fantasy world building. Their past worlds include a forest of fruity people, a leather bar in Bangalore, investigative vibratory soundscapes and portals into space/time.

Lal is currently an MFA candidate at NSCAD University where they are dreaming about what a post-colonial world might feel like. Their work is driven by lived-experiences and collected sensations which manifest into sensory responses through his art practice.

Melissa Kearney

Melissa Kearney

Melissa Kearney is a multi-disciplinary artist in Unama’ki | Cape Breton. Reimagining how geography, and bygone industry tell the story of the soul, Kearney focus on the personal and community. Their practice includes painting, performance, installation and film. They have participated in exhibitions and festivals across the province and is currently the Artistic Director at Eltuek Arts Centre in the north end of Sydney.

Robyn Martelly

Robyn Martelly

Robyn Martelly is from Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia, which is located in Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island). Robyn is an artist, contributing author, poet, and a freelance writer. Some of her work has appeared in LOVE (Leave Out Violence) Newsletter, Teens Now Talk Magazine, Understorey Magazine, Montréal Writes an Online Literary Magazine, the Cape Breton Post, CBRM ConnectArts, CBC Information Morning Cape Breton, Wandering Autumn Magazine and ‘Magine: Unama’ki/ Cape Breton’s Literary Magazine.

Robyn has 15+ years experience creating art and writing poetry, her art and writing is inspired by her culture, community, and social issues.

Michel Williatte-Battet

Michel Williatte-Battet

Michel Williatte-Battet is a multi disciplinary artist based in St Joseph du Moine on the western side of Cape Breton Island. Inspired by his surroundings Michel’s art is often described as whimsical and humorous. He has been showing and selling his work since 1989 and it can be found in many private collections around the world.

Loretta Gould

Loretta Gould

Loretta is a self-taught artist from the Waycobah First Nation in Nova Scotia. Born and raised in a reservation in Cape Breton, she creates bright, beautiful pieces with fabrics, photos and acrylics. Her art is spiritual and her way to get her feelings on canvas. Her first paintings sold in Finland and Germany, and has been creating and exhibiting her pieces ever since.

She is currently working on a compilation of stories that go with each of her paintings, and 2 children’s books to help learn their native tongue. Today, she resides in Cape Breton with her husband Elliot Gould and all their children Dakota Jay, Shianne Snow, Savannah Sipu, Phoenix Lee, Ivy Blue, and Montanna Sky.

Daniel MacIvor

Daniel MacIvor

Daniel MacIvor is a Cape Breton playwright and filmmaker. He is the recipient of an OBIE Award, a GLAAD Award, a Governor General’s Award, the Siminovitch Prize In Theatre and a Canadian Screen Award.

Angie Arsenault

Angie Arsenault

Angie Arsenault is an artist and researcher from the deindustrializing island of Unama’ki (Cape Breton). Angie’s work engages with concepts of value, detritus, memory, botanical life, survival, folk wisdom and storytelling through interventions in the field and installation predominantly. She holds both a BFA (2004) and MFA (2017) from NSCAD University.

2024 Artist Map

Explore the 2024 Artist Map and discover all the exciting installation locations throughout the festival. View the interactive map to find out where each artist’s work is showcased, and plan your visit to Lumiere Arts at Night.

View Map

Lumière Art-at-Night

Lumière Art-at-Night is a free, accessible, contemporary arts festival taking place in Unama’ki-Cape Breton on September 28, 2024.

The festival will showcase public installations and presentations of art, films and video, as well as educational programming. Join us for this unique celebration of art, culture and community spirit!

Lumière at the Drive-In

Lumière returns to the friendly confines of the Cape Breton Drive-in for another edition of boundary pushing short films at the most unpretentious venue imaginable.

Join us for an evening under the stars on September 21, 2023.

Films begin at dusk.

Learn more

Volunteer with Us

Lumière volunteers are community-minded, energetic and arts-oriented. Whether you’re organized, outgoing or prefer to communicate through your phone, we’ve got a job for you!

We are still looking for volunteers for the late shift from 10:30pm-12:30am.

Please contact alanawilson@lumierecb.com or arrive at room 209 at Eltuek Arts Centre at 10:15pm.

Host an Artist 2024

Lumière seeks friends in the community to host our visiting artists on September 27th and 28th. If you have a spare room or empty house you’d be willing to lend an artist for a night or two,  please fill out the form below.

Host an Artist


We’re open for lumierecb on September 28th from 7-11pm to keep you energized as you explore all the amazing art around downtown Sydney🎨✨ 

Stop by for a cup of Nova Scotia’s finest fair trade coffee, and fuel your festival experience with our delicious to-go drinks and snacks. It’s the perfect stop between all the creativity and fun! 

See you at Lumiere! 🌙 

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#LumiereFestival #LumiereCB #CafeByTheBay #ArtAndCoffee #FestivalVibes #OpenLate #SupportLocal #Coffeeshop #capebreton #downtownsydney
Lumière!
Acroyoga.. #lumierecb favourite.
In the thick of it, installing for Lumiere this past weekend. Photo credit samuel_wb #lumierecb #textile #installation #publicart
Probably the cutest picture ever #cute #friends #happy #lumiere #lumierecb #volunteer #orange
Carnivorous plants and immersive audio, from a bugs perspective, at this year’s Lumiere.  Saturday night, 3rd floor at Eltuek Arts Centre.  #lumierecb #carnivorousplants #atmos
🌺 🌹 🌼 #lumierecb
Not the best photo of me, but I got a picture with myself! kirstiehorwath did an amazing job painting a portrait of me. So glad I got to see it in person. #selfiewithmyportrait #lumierecb
Bio-Luminescence by Savannah Anderson #Lumière #Bioluminescence #Art #CapeBreton #lumierecb

Land Acknowledgement

Lumière Arts Festival, on behalf of the board, the artists, and the communities we represent, acknowledges that we work, live and play in the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people, in Unama’ki Cape Breton, who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial.

We are grateful not only for the strong and ongoing stewardship of these lands we call home, but also for the stories, music, and art that Mi’kmaq people continue to create and share, carrying ancestral voices, sacred teachings, and legacies of interconnectedness and resilience forward into the present and on to the future.

We aspire to reflect that sense of connection between past and present in our festival. We are inspired by L’nu artists to foster connection and self-reflection in our work. We will work to ensure that art is accessible, inclusive, and integrated into public spaces so that we can share our collective stories, recognizing the challenges of our past and imagining brighter futures.

We are all Treaty people.