‘It’s Time’ (Part 2) – the ‘Fresh Eyes – Sault Ste Marie in 2025′ community creative project

Our City is confronting several challenges as 2024 soon makes way for the New Year. What 2025 has in store for our community is likely anyone’s guess – ‘plus ca change, plus ca meme chose’ …

But there are some things where we Sault creative community stakeholders can make a difference by simply doing what we do best – telling great stories. This reality gives a unique Sault creative project its impetus – ‘Fresh Eyes – Sault Ste Marie in 2025’. Imagine this …. commencing Wednesday, May 7 and concluding on Sunday May 11, 2025, 8 photographers (4 local, and 4 from out of town) will be tasked to ‘shoot the Sault’. These artists will have full liberty and creative licence to capture the Sault from any and all perspectives … urban, suburban, industrial, Nature, people and places – no creative limits

Next imagine that these photographers’ work is being continually uploaded to a publicly accessible physical location (perhaps a downtown Sault hotel space) and a dedicated website where the work can be viewed by anyone – 100s of images will be shot in 5 days … in the Thursday through Sunday period, the City (students / classes, interested citizens – anyone) can visit, speak to some of the photographers about their work – see the art unfold before their eyes … a free and fulfilling experience for all. And the City will win, too – it is proposed that Sault Tourism can acquire any images shot during this ‘Fresh Eyes’ period under a free copyright license…. a promotional win!

And the writers? Imagine again how a selected creative group will be tasked to supplement the visual images with their literary impressions about what the work … and what the City means in 2025. Once again, there will be writers on hand to meet with any of the public coming to see the photographs in person. These visitors will be given their own opportunities to comment on anything they have viewed … comments that will also contribute to our ‘Fresh Eyes’ creation. An editorial team will oversee the final production.

This ‘Fresh Eyes’ approach with its fixed time frames and clear creative objectives has never been undertaken anywhere else (to our knowledge) – but why not here? And why not now?

Our creative communities are loaded with talent — and the final published book (available in all formats) will stand as a testament to ‘A Special Place’ – and once again, ‘It’s Time!” Anyone interested in learning more about ‘Fresh Eyes’ can contact me at [email protected] … I am grateful for your time.