THE VISION
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is continuing its mission of supporting exceptional talent by bringing the community together through innovative programming to demonstrate that a creative community starts with the spark of an individual's imagination. Bemis08: Creativity Festival presents a three-day multi-disciplinary art event that investigates the vital link between presentation and the creative process. The festival includes contemporary art exhibitions, artist studio tours, presentations, discussion panels and special performances.

What is Bemis08: Creativity Festival?
Perhaps the most ambitious undertaking in the 27-year history of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Bemis08: Creativity Festival is a three-day exploration of the arts that runs Thursday, June 26 through Saturday, June 28. From process to presentation, the festival is the result of collaborative efforts with a staggering array of participants across a broad spectrum of disciplines.

What do you mean by “from process to presentation?”
The art scene of any progressive city is rife with cultural and arts organizations whose mission is mainly to present or to deliver performances. At the Bemis Center, we have a mission that speaks to an underlying, often unseen foundation of contemporary culture. We support exceptional talent at the origins of creativity where inspiration dwells in what are often only vague visions of potentials and possibilities. “From process to presentation” speaks to our aim to go beyond mere presentation and to expose the creative process itself. From genesis to formative ideation to planning and on to process and finally presentation, Bemis08 will have people thinking beyond the rather pedestrian “how” questions, those that are “answered” in the viewing of any finished presentation or performance. Instead, the festival will leave you also asking the crucial “why” questions that complete the picture through linkages with the core of creativity itself…those vital forces that drive the cultural identity of any community.

What should I expect to see at Bemis08: Creativity Festival?
We don’t expect you to “see” so much as we expect you to “experience.” Everything about Bemis08 is designed to foster a participatory immersion into the creative process. Major visual arts exhibitions with hands-on workshops and discussions with the artists, interactive theatre that blurs the line between performer and observer, site-specific modern dance that envelops you in the poetry of the human form, spoken word events that break down barriers between muse and masses, new music and sonic surroundings that are to be felt instead of merely heard…all framed in a festival setting that also includes ample opportunity for additional brain food in panel discussions with a host of artists, arts professionals, civic leaders, educators and activists.