Spotlight on the Unscripted Twillingate Digital Arts Festival
Since 2015, the Unscripted Twillingate Digital Arts Festival has been bringing together art enthusiasts and creators of all kinds for four days of fun and innovative workshops (using the beautiful local landscapes and scenery as inspiration), artist talks, digital art exhibits, food, music and more.
Managed by Grow Twillingate Inc., a not-for-profit organization that develops and manages initiatives and events that support sustainable economic and community development in Twillingate and area, the festival is the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. And it’s not only been giving residents and visitors alike the chance to learn new skills and create and share their stories; it’s also helped promote Twillingate and area as a tourism destination (while extending the tourism season) and contribute to the local economy in myriad ways.
The event, which this year runs from September 21-24, also brings together different perspectives from across generations, creating new connections and friendships, and has helped locals see their town in a new light. We talked with Wilma Hartmann, one of the founders of Unscripted Twillingate, about what people can expect from the ninth festival and the many ways the event has helped uplift the community over the years.
Local group The Split Peas perform during the festival's "Kitchen Party."
Business & Arts NL: There’s a bunch of great stuff happening during this year’s festival, including workshops, a digital art exhibit, a kitchen party and more. What are some of the big highlights this year?
Wilma Hartmann: We have four world-class workshop presenters.
Dr. TA Loeffler is an accomplished outdoor adventurer, educator, photographer, filmmaker and in 2020 was named to Canada’s 90 Greatest Explorers list by Canadian Geographic. TA will lead a group in the outdoors and teach an orienteering session, using a compass and photography.
James March is a tenured professor in digital and experiential design at Sheridan College and also a fun human to hang out with. He’ll help you unleash boundless creativity through using artificial intelligence.
Rogers TV's Dan Warren will lead a group of novices in the process of creating a community documentary that might be shown on Rogers TV. Learn how to plan a story, how cameras and editing tools work and get hands on in the process!
Photographer and musician Ritche Perez is no stranger in St. John’s. He is known to be a magician with his camera and post production. His workshop will teach how to “smooth rough waters” with your camera using slow exposure flash photography techniques.
A big community highlight is Friday’s Treat on the Trail. Five top chefs will have food stations in a big tent where they’ll be entertained by Shelby Maye and Adam Baxter. This year, three of the chefs have appeared on, and some won, national TV cooking shows: Roary MacPherson, Shaun Hussey and baker Catherine Sansome. They are joined by top Newfoundland chefs Michelle Le Blanc, Stephen Quinton and Christopher Mercer. And after a big scoff, a restoring sunset walk around Hospital Pond is an option.
To support general health and well being, drummer Tom Alteen will lead a drumming circle, and there will be a guided hike on Twillingate’s Rockcut Trails.
Entertainment-wise the festival is thrilled to welcome the big talents of Rosemary Lawton (opening day), Twillingate’s iconic Split Peas with Those Beautiful Ugly Sticks (Kitchen Party), and Sherman Downey and Jared Waterman (Saturday Soirée).
A digital art exhibit will run alongside the festival in St. Peter’s Church.
This festival truly brings business and art together in four days where participants “learn, create, share and celebrate”!
(Click here to view the complete schedule.)
Chef Roary MacPherson will be serving up some treats during this year's festival.
Business & Arts NL: How has the festival grown over the years, since its first event in 2015, in terms of attendance and festival offerings?
WH: The festival attracts upwards of 600 participants each year, with an enthusiastic group of local volunteers that supports a small staff. Visitors have come from as far as Scotland and South Africa.
It is a niche festival that has continued through COVID, pivoting to a hybrid format and innovative solutions such as an online cooking show, paired with a take-out feast offering.
The digital art exhibit has grown to attract high calibre artists from as far as Trinidad - which was surprising organic growth of an activity that started with small community exhibits.
The quality of our workshops is world class! It combines leading-edge content from the world where creativity and business merge and it is offered in the beautiful surroundings of Twillingate Island. Topics have been varied but always on the cutting edge, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and creating music in a pop-up recording studio with background musicians. These topics are made fun and accessible for anyone with a curious mind and adventurous spirit.
Some of the festival activities have become so successful in their own right, such as The Amazing Root Cellar Race, that it was spun off as a freestanding event that happens in July, so the festival has birthed other events.
In 2019, Lori McCarthy of Cod Sounds hosted a workshop as part of the Unscripted Twillingate Digital Arts Festival.
Business & Arts NL: How has the festival helped contribute to the local economy? It must be quite a busy time for local restaurants, B&Bs, etc.
WH: It is a busy time for some tourism businesses, but it remains a struggle for all to remain open this late in the season. In general, Twillingate’s fall has become busier than it has been. The longer season has made a big ultra marathon, the Rockcut Ultra, possible after the Unscripted Festival. In combination, these events have added another three weeks to Twillingate’s tourism season over the past nine years.
Over nine years, the festival has brought close to $1-million in new money into the community through funding, sponsorships and sales. It has created seasonal work for about 30 people, mostly from the local area. In addition, money is spent in local businesses.
Light Painting on Story Bench (Tom Cochrane).
Business & Arts NL: Are there other ways in which the festival has contributed to the local community?
WH: So many ways! General well being and community pride - volunteers bring together high school students and seniors, so there is benefit from inter-generational volunteering.
Members of the local community have learned new skills, from baking buns on a beach with a world-renowned outdoor adventurer and photographer, to discovering how geo-caching works, creating and discovering new caches on the island, to appreciating outdoor art projections at night on historic buildings, to discovering writing and publishing in a digital world.
Though it takes time for a new and unknown concept to gain traction in a rural fishing and tourism community, there is a sense of pride in being the location of such a digital arts festival.
Local artists, and photographers in particular, have started monetizing their work through prints, cards and commissions.
Friendships: The festival has become a connector of people who share similar interests who retained these new friendships in new creative collaborations.
Networking: The festival has connected Twillingate with arts associations and professionals across North America and the province. This has made an impact on local culture and economic development and has also added a rural perspective to these organizations.
It is our hope that exposure to digital art will provide students in our local schools a broader perspective about creativity, their community and career possibilities. Through exposure to some thought-provoking content, some of these students have had insightful conversations that otherwise may not have happened.
I think it has had some impact on how the community views itself (perhaps in a small and slow way). Some return regularly and bring their friends. So through art and businesses, we believe the festival has contributed to Twillingate’s growth and cultural renewal.
Content creation and documentation: As a part of the festival, four short films were made (one a documentary on opera singer Georgina Stirling) and one recorded song, to which the festival holds the rights. These are valuable creative assets that can bring additional value to the community.
A non-profit, Grow Twillingate, was incorporated to manage the festival. Over the nine years, this organization has created other significant projects that support arts and culture in the community, including heritage studies, art exhibits, community gardens at the school and museum, senior well-being through the Back to Roots project, and even a self-guided digital historic walking tour project. This organization continues to grow and impact the community.
One of the highlights of the festival is Treat on the Trail, which features five top chefs, who will have food stations set up in a large tent.
Business & Arts NL: Are there any local businesses or groups who have been particularly supportive over the years that you’d like to acknowledge?
WH: Tourism businesses in the province, such as Maxxim Vacations (Jill Curran) have supported the festival well over the years. Jill understands that a good place to live is also a good place to visit.
Marketing company JAC (John Atkins) has supported this festival these past years in the biggest way. They have amplified our messages in the most beautiful way and made this festival a poster child for this province. Their entire team is on the ground during the festival, participating and creating!
Our provincial and federal governments have seen this as the tourism and economic development opportunity that it is and have significantly supported the work of the Unscripted Festival. This has led to our municipal government joining the conversation and has slowly but surely built local government support for this initiative as well (mayor Justin Blackler).
Our local high schools in Twillingate and New World Island have participated in our activities where appropriate in their student curriculum.
The Anchor Inn Hotel has been a founding supporter and major sponsor for nine years. Both owners, Deborah Bourden and myself, were founders of the festival and are still a part of the board and planning committees.
Most significant is the friends we made through the festival, personally, in the arts community and local community, as well as international friendships with folk who love the festival.
Catch the Unscripted Twillingate Digital Arts Festival from September 21-24.