BLINK Cincinnati 2024 is going to be bigger than ever before as organizers announce the expansion of the immersive light and art festival into another Northern Kentucky city.
Festival organizers, local leaders and more gathered at Newport on the Levee Wednesday morning to reveal BLINK will not just span Over-the-Rhine, downtown Cincinnati and Covington, but will also be activated in Newport for the first time this year, thanks to an investment from Northern Kentucky's tourism and convention services bureau, meetNKY.
“That will mean we can light up our riverfront to an even greater extent and include more artists and show off even more of our community,” Brendon Cull, president and CEO of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, said at the press conference. “I love the fact that the communities in this region have a little bit different of a vibe in every place, so we are going to activate that in a uniquely Newport way this year.”
BLINK executive director Justin Brookhart says the goal of expanding into Newport is to continue to evolve the festival into a truly regional event that showcases the cultural vibrancy of all Greater Cincinnati’s communities.
“BLINK weekend is a really special time of the year where people come together to celebrate the creativity and spectacle of large-scale public art. We're excited to bring our special brand of art and technology to some of the cultural institutions and historic sites here in Covington and in Newport,” he said.
Brookhart says they can’t reveal the extent of the festival’s activation in Newport just yet, but says the Levee will be a site for some of the exhibitions coming to Northern Kentucky, which include signature BLINK displays like projection mapping, large-scale lighted installations and mural illuminations. There will also be a unique installation near MegaCorp Pavilion and the Fourth Street Bridge, just steps from Covington, according to a press release.
“We are so excited to have BLINK as a part of our community,” said Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. “This tiny little city on the river that offers a lot of tourism and outkicks our coverage in every area is so excited to be a part of this event and what it does for the entire region. … We’ve got a river that divides us, but bridges like the Purple People Bridge that connect us. All those things connect us, and that connectivity is what’s going to be a part of the strength of this event, and we are so appreciative for BLINK crossing those bridges and coming into our community.”
meetNKY President and CEO Julie Kirkpatrick calls BLINK a one-of-a-kind opportunity to showcase the region's creativity, drive for inclusion and ability to create unique tourism experiences.
“Events like BLINK put new eyes on our special community and helps them see us in a new light,” Kirkpatrick said at the press conference.
And as BLINK’s footprint has grown, so has the interest from artists all over the world. Cull said a record number of artists applied to be a part of BLINK 2024: nearly 1,000 across six continents. Compare that to just 250 applications for BLINK 2022.
“Increasingly what we’re finding is we have artists from all over the world who want to be part of this spectacle, who want to be at this event, because they realize, if they are in visual art, there is no better place to show off their work and their art,” he said.
Brookhart says while he expects there will be more installations than BLINK 2022, organizers and artists are focusing on the quality of the exhibits, not just the quantity. Popular events like the drone light show over the Ohio River will return this year, says Brookhart, along with the return of projection mapping on Music Hall, something that hasn’t happened since BLINK’s forebear, Lumenocity, in 2016. One new exciting display will be what is only referred to as its codename “Supernova.” Brookhart says Supernova will feature a bridge of light that spans the Ohio River from the Covington Landing to Smale Riverfront Park, running parallel to the Roebling Suspension Bridge.
BLINK returns this year from Thursday-Sunday, Oct. 17-20. Learn more at blinkcincinnati.com.
