Update Dec 2011: The Red Lantern Night Market is over, in a successful event attracting an estimated 10,000 people to the city centre. After gloomy days of rain, the sun came out just in time to make a beautifully summer afternoon and evening in the city.

—

The Red Lanterns have been unpacked and we can’t wait to raise them! Red Lantern Night Market is ready to bring the centre of Newcastle alive on November 26th! Think night markets in Darwin and Asia, with a vibrant festival ambience reminiscent of Carnivale.

Visitors have the opportunity of viewing and purchasing unique handmade and fair-trade goods direct from the artisan/maker and experiencing exotic food from Vietnamese, China, Indonesia, Spain, Africa, Greece and Turkey.

There will be a large cultural program with music, performance, an operational rickshaw and a partnership with Livesites who will create a program of Dancing in the Street. Renew Newcastle projects will participate and open their doors to partake in the festival.

Renew Newcastle is proud to support the market organisers to deliver the unique and vibrant Red Lantern Night Market in 2011, really bringing the city alive on a summer night.

The Red Lantern Night Market 2011 is also supported by Newcastle NOW, Imprint and The Newcastle Herald.

YOU CAN HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN!!

Volunteer time the week before, during, or the week after the event, to help make the Markets amazing! Click here to read about the jobs on offer and how to register as a volunteer.

The organisers are fundraising to make the market an even better cultural event, via donations big or small on the the crowdfunding website Pozible.

It’s going to be a fantastic night but with your help it will be even more spectacular!!! You can be instrumental in revitalizing the city centre of Newcastle with positive nighttime place activation! Read on to hear about how and why Red Lantern Night Market was created, and HOW MUCH MORE we can do with your help!! There are some great incentives for you to get on board including raffles of our stallholders amazing work.

You can donate to make the Red Lantern Night Market a truly wonderful event – through donations big or small on Pozible the online crowdfunding website.

WHY RED LANTERN NEEDS YOUR HELP!!

In 2011 Red Lantern Night Market has faced a major battle to raise enough sponsorship for the event to take place. The Major sponsors for the last two years have changed their operational structure, and area of operation. There is also less funding available to community projects and arts organizations.

Justine has raised enough sponsorship for the event to run on a basic level but more funds are required for Red Lantern to produce the night how it should be done!!! For example we have the Lanterns to hang but not enough money to light them! We have enough money for performers but not enough to pay for technical support, amps, sounds desk etc!!

POZIBLE FUNDING GOAL

The aim is to raise $3500 which will pay for lighting the beautiful chinese lanterns, technical support and sound desk for our musicians and performers, engaging a Chinese lion dancing & drumming group, holding a lantern-making workshop for children who can then take a lantern home and creating and installing light installations.

If you believe in major community events that bring a city alive, and which create opportunities for artists, designers, musicians and performers as well as a cultural festival for the wider community you may want to support us!! If you have been to Red Lantern Night Market in the past and if you got something from the event you should support Red Lantern Night Market! Donate today.

Contact

Volunteers with event experience and technical skills are encouraged to get involved. Volunteer time the week before, during, or the week after the event, to help make the Markets amazing! Click here to read about the jobs on offer and how to register as a volunteer.

All enquiries about the market to Justine Gaudry redlanternnightmarket@hotmail.com

For additional information and interviews please contact Justine on M:0439 649 058.

Background

Who organises the Red Lantern Night Market?

My name is Justine Gaudry! I am the creator, artistic director and event organizer of The Olive Tree Market and Red Lantern Night Market. I have recently run the This is Not Art Sunday Fair Zine & Artists Market. I have been a Board Member of Tantrum Theatre a Youth Theatre Company in Newcastle. I have BA Communications from UTS Sydney. In the past I have work in the film industry and as a photographer and have received awards and grants for short films including an AFC Award for Best Student Film while at UTS and a Queens Trust Award.

A Little Bit Of History & Project Overview from market organiser Justine Gaudry:

Red Lantern Night Market was started in 2009 by the creators of The Olive Tree Market- Newcastle’s dedicated Handmade Art and Design Market. The Olive Tree Market was born from the desire of the three creators to start a community artisans market that provided Newcastle’s contemporary art, craft and design practitioners with an arena to showcase their work.

‘The Olive Tree Market’ has gained a strong reputation based on the high quality of the work on offer and the vibrant culturally diverse atmosphere where artists can interact with their contemporaries and sell their work without large overheads. The market creates a unique opportunity for the wider public to meet local artisans, view high quality work and allows the public to collect, source and commission one-off works.

Red Lantern Night Market grew out of The Olive Tree Market. Within months of starting the event we had more high quality artists & designers apply for Olive Tree than the market could accommodate.

We were also inspired by the work of the organization Renew Newcastle, which was installing artists & designers in empty buildings in the centre of Newcastle and tuning these spaces into vibrant retail ventures and galleries. There was also the fantastic market infrastructure that Newcastle City Council had installed in Hunter St and surround laneways that had sat empty for a number of years.

Additionally, a major reason for starting Red Lantern Night Market was to hold a series of events that would help revitalize the centre of Newcastle and create a positive association with an area of the city that remains largely unused and empty of nighttime use and is associated with antisocial behavior.

We also aimed to raise enough sponsorship to pay the talented performers and musicians for working at Red Lantern Night Market as opposed to local performers regularly working at events in Newcastle for free.

Red Lantern Night Market was held over six highly successful dates in November and December 2009 and 2010. Each evening of Red Lantern was visited by thousands of people. Headlines in the local press about Red Lantern Night Market included ‘Miracle on Hunter St’, Festival of the Night, Its Twilight Time in the City, Markets Firmly Part of Town.

Red Lantern Night Market supported Newcastle’s design & art community and each evening of the event had in excess of 90 stalls. There was a very strong collection of high quality handmade stalls and fair-trade goods with an excellent mix of food stalls representing numerous cultural groups.

Stalls included: fashion, home wares, textile arts, printmaking, zines, recycled wearable art, jewellery, children’s clothing & toys, vintage goods and circus goods. Importantly there was a strong contingent of emerging artist’s stalls. This sector was specifically targeted and Renew Newcastle projects were encouraged to participate in Red Lantern Night Market.

Red Lantern Night Market has operated as a festival as opposed to a traditional market. The festival program was highly visible, vibrant and represented an exceptionally skilled and talented group of local performers and cultural groups.

Highlights included: Effendi Jaenudin Indonesian Ensemble, Earthen Rhythms African Drumming, Birds and Belles, Nick and Liesl, Gamelan Novo Kastria Gamelan performance & Shadow Puppet performance, Samba Frog Percussion Group, an operation rickshaw and the Lovelorn Theatre street performances.

There was also an evening of Livesites ‘Dancing in the Streets’, which had African and Middle Eastern dance lessons and performances.

To date Red Lantern Night Market has relied on sponsorship to operate. Sponsors and partners of the event have previously included: The GPT Group, Livesites, Renew Newcastle, The Newcastle Herald, The City Centre Committee and Newcastle City Council.

Volunteer time the week before, during, or the week after the event, to help make the Markets amazing! Click here to read about the jobs on offer and how to register as a volunteer.

Back to Projects