Sept 23

Sarah Blanchard

Sarah Blanchard credits her youth at the Fortress of Louisbourg for developing her love of storytelling and artistic creation. She studied Theatre at Mount Allison University and University of British Columbia. She has directed and designed several local shows and was awarded an Achievement in Costuming for Unsinkable and The Latest News from the Primodial Ooze (CBU Boardmore).

The Pleiades

Artist Project

For milenia, the stars have been a source of inspiration for stories and guidance around the globe. For the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, a common story projected onto the star cluster is that of group of women escaping danger with the help of a powerful force. The Pleiades Project asks, “If we could visit these women, what story would THEY tell?” As a performance experiment, this is the first step in a play development process that invites the viewer to sit with a living sculpture and provide feedback on the experience of sharing time in space.

Four 20 min performance viewing periods.

Performers: Afton Jette, Jule Ann Hardy, River Young, Sasha Young, Josie Sobol, Kristen Woodford, Amber Tapley, and Amber White

Thank you for the support of the Old Sydney Society for the use of their facilities during the development of this piece.

Lumière Arts Festival 2026 // Metamorphosis

Lumière invites artists to explore transformations, growth, and renewal —across beings, identities, societies, and materials – through the lens of artistic expression. In the chrysalis phase, change is unseen, mysterious, and full of possibilities. Artists are invited to create/present works that examine shifts in personal identity, explore adaptation or environmental cycles and the transformation of objects and materials, highlighting not just beginnings or endings, but the unfolding of the process itself.

The Metamorphosis theme delves into the ongoing process of transformation from one life stage to another. Like renewal processes in nature, change unfolds in phases, some visible, and some hidden. How do we hold space for the unknown phases in between growth and reemergence? How do we honour the process of becoming?

In response to an ever changing world, the festival offers a space to reflect on how we adapt, change, and evolve. The festival is a space for collective transformation and activation of unconventional spaces into interactive and imaginative art installations.

Lumière asks: How does art mirror transformations? What guides us forward through unknown processes of becoming? In the glow of shared experience, we celebrate the beauty of metamorphosis, the mystery of the chrysalis, and the endless possibilities of becoming.

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.