About Lumière Arts Festival

A Warm Welcome from our Board

The Lumière Board of Directors would like to welcome you to the 12th year of Unama’ki’s Lumière Arts Festival, where contemporary art is showcased in unconventional spaces. This September the community will come alive with exciting opportunities to engage in the local arts community through attending artist talks, community workshops, a short film night, musical performances, and of course, the beloved art-at-night event on September 23. Over the years, it has been incredible to see the support of the community for what has grown into an anticipated cultural event on Cape Breton Island where local and national artists can share their work with an eager crowd. We are excited to bring you the 2023 iteration of the Lumière Arts Festival and even more excited to see what this year’s lineup of artists and community groups will create.

Each year we are proud to showcase the work of over 80 artists in this year’s festival from installations you’ll see at the art-at-night event, to the designers, artists, and technical crew working behind the scenes to bring the community a festival experience that all can enjoy.

The Lumière Arts Festival would like to acknowledge that our festival takes place in Unamak’i, the unceded and ancestral land of the L’nu. This land is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik people first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with the surrender of lands and resources but in fact, recognized Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.