The Great Northern Winter Festival

Originally founded to bring together three legacy festivals (The city of lakes loppet, saint paul Winter carnival, and city of lakes loppet) with original programming, The Great Northern's board expanded The organization's vision in 2019 to include a focus on combating climate change. Kate nordstrum was hired in december 2019 as executive/artistic director to reimagine The Great Northern Festival (tgn)'s mission and programming. For The 2021, 2022, and 2023 festivals, nordstrum invested in programming that explores our changing climate through The lenses of culture/heritage, The economy, and social equity, in addition to investing in dozens of deeply meaningful arts performances and installations, invigorating outdoor events, and complementary food and beverage programming. Tgn believes that this approach will broaden understanding of environmental concerns, prepare minnesotans to participate in community decision-making, and inspire residents to reduce their carbon footprint/ impact on The environment.the way The Great Northern combines arts events with a climate focus is unique and transformative. We want our attendees to experience The beauty of Winter on a cellular level and be inspired and motivated to preserve it.the 2023 Festival was tgn's most ambitious one yet, with 70 events that invigorated The mind, body, and spirit. The Festival's climate solutions series featured a dozen in-person and virtual conversations that investigated climate action and advocacy from multiple angles. The Great Northern sauna village attracted more than 3,000 guests to nearly 20 different sauna structures. The experience invited visitors to interact with thermaculture during deep Winter. Our common home, an arresting, interactive public art installation in st. paul, raised awareness and sparked conversation about The universal subject of human impact on The environment. Ashwini ramaswamy and kevork mourad created invisible cities, a reinterpretation of italo calvino's metaphysical novel that incorporated multiple dance forms and live digital animation. Contemporary music ensemble alarm will sound interpreted composer john luther adams' ten thousand birds during a free and open performance at The minneapolis institute of art. Pow wow singer joe rainey performed niineta, his debut collection of songs, at The cedar. Tgn's website had more than 126,000 visits and 277,000 pageviews. There were 1 million impressions on social media and 20,700 followers. Tgn and its partners reached nearly 200,000 attendees, with The Great Northern's unique events attracting more than 21,000 attendees.