A figure from Manik Dreamscape marks a venue entrance. Photo by Leif Norman.
Melissa McAlister, MRAIC and Sean Radford are today partners at, respectively, Prairie Architects and AtLRG Architecture. But in 2011, they were interns looking for a creative outlet. The project they came up with was a new public venture: the Winnipeg Design Festival (WDF).
WDF has since evolved into a four-day multidisciplinary celebration, and the signature event of design advocacy group StorefrontMB. This year’s festival spanned architecture, landscape, city planning, furniture design, graphic design and crafts?the latter two new for 2016. WDF draws on local traditions of working small and collaboratively. A revolving curatorship sees outgoing organizers mentoring their successors, and an army of collaborators apply their expertise to specific events. Mixed Media Music Maker from Art City and planners Freig & Associates appeals to all ages. Photo by Leif Norman.
To encourage synergies between the broad swathe of WDF?s design disciplines, this year’s organizers, Dora Batista and Pablo Batista, MRAIC (currently interns at Stantec and 5468796 Architecture) adopted a strategy of, as they put it, “worlds colliding”. This entailed scheduling events for distinct audiences close together in time and space. A number of programs converged in Winnipeg’s heritage Exchange District. Exhibitions like Elements Furniture and Model Homes, a pop-up market for crafts and manufact...