Night\Shift placehacking festival celebrates local community, creativity, ingenuity and exploration. Thousands bundle up to wander downtown Kitchener after dark on the evening of the autumn time change, searching for surprises in its nooks and crannies, cultural touchstones, commercial hubs and heritage buildings. It’s a rare moment that hinges on people bundling up and coming out in uncharacteristic droves to reimagine the possibilities of their public spaces and to seek out the emotional sparks that define the core of their city.
After just two years of forming Kitchener’s answer to nuit blanche, Night\Shift is now hailed as juicy evidence of downtown’s cultural rejuvenation. The festival's underlying goal is to get locals to experience the hefty collaborative potential that is embedded where they live and work – via individuals' creative visions, smart technological solutions, hidden treasures or uses of the built environment, and the magic of unplanned moments of interaction. The annual, walkable multidisciplinary event also makes productive and inspiring use of downtown’s so-called dead zones and underused indoor spaces, allowing festival explorers to see unappreciated areas of their community and become better connected with their surroundings and neighbours.
Night\Shift is a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers. Most of the money raised from successful grant applications as well as private donors and partnerships goes into paying festival contributors for their materials, time and energy, so they can concentrate on embedding fabulous ideas in the free programming landscape. The festival’s volunteer director has already raised more than 80% of the funds needed to support more than 30 pieces of programming for Night\Shift Halloween on Saturday, October 31st, 2015.
Now we’re asking for help from local festival-goers, downtown Kitchener stakeholders and community builders, and patrons of contemporary art and creativity in Waterloo Region. Whatever money is raised by this campaign will support more than 100 contributors to the 2015 festival by topping up honoraria, helping cover administrative costs and paying for essential services like security, cleanup and promotional creative. It’ll also ensure the festival enough budget breathing room to begin getting plans for Night\Shift 2016 off the ground.
Perks
- 1 claimed
- 4 remaining
Be one of the first guests to enjoy the spectacularly renovated Walper Hotel [walper.com] when its new look is revealed in January 2016! This reward includes a gift certificate for a single night of accommodation in a standard guest room at the Walper Hotel, minus incidentals and upgrades. (Rooms must be booked in advance and are dependent on availability, and this reward cannot be claimed until the hotel is reopened for business in 2016.)
- 4 claimed
- 0 remaining
Most nocturnal adventures begin with coffee. Set yourself up with a month's worth of sustainably sourced caffeine doses – aka a $100 gift certificate for The Yeti cafe [theyeticafe.com], the East End's hippest little joint for delicious food and drinks with dope jams. PLUS an official Night\Shift toque and scarf set for those chilly morning missions.
- 1 claimed
- 0 remaining
Try your hand (and forearm) at mastering the art of gestural control with a Myo armband – hatched, developed and manufactured in the heart of downtown Kitchener by Thalmic Labs [myo.com]. PLUS treat a friend to a flick at the Apollo Cinema with a pair of movie passes, and keep bundled while getting to and from the theatre with an official Night\Shift toque and scarf set.
Highlights
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Support Night\Shift & help make a killer Halloween Community
Our community shows our leading supporters and the contributions they've made or inspired by sharing our campaign. Learn more
How it works
To appear in our community, simply make a contribution to our campaign
and show your name, or inspire a contribution from someone else by sharing your personal link (below).
The more contributions you make or inspire, the higher you'll go and the more the campaign will benefit.
- 1 claimed
- 4 remaining
Be one of the first guests to enjoy the spectacularly renovated Walper Hotel [walper.com] when its new look is revealed in January 2016! This reward includes a gift certificate for a single night of accommodation in a standard guest room at the Walper Hotel, minus incidentals and upgrades. (Rooms must be booked in advance and are dependent on availability, and this reward cannot be claimed until the hotel is reopened for business in 2016.)
- 4 claimed
- 0 remaining
Most nocturnal adventures begin with coffee. Set yourself up with a month's worth of sustainably sourced caffeine doses – aka a $100 gift certificate for The Yeti cafe [theyeticafe.com], the East End's hippest little joint for delicious food and drinks with dope jams. PLUS an official Night\Shift toque and scarf set for those chilly morning missions.
- 1 claimed
- 0 remaining
Try your hand (and forearm) at mastering the art of gestural control with a Myo armband – hatched, developed and manufactured in the heart of downtown Kitchener by Thalmic Labs [myo.com]. PLUS treat a friend to a flick at the Apollo Cinema with a pair of movie passes, and keep bundled while getting to and from the theatre with an official Night\Shift toque and scarf set.
