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Implementation
Official work began on the Festival in April 2013, when Executive Artistic Director Jim Lasko
announced, alongside Mayor Rahm Emanuel, that the inaugural festival would be launched in 2014.
In the summer of 2013, Redmoon hired a festival producer and a director of community arts to lead
the early planning and development stages, including initial community outreach. That winter,
Redmoon released an RFP to identify community-based organizations that were interested in
partnering with the group to bring the festival to their neighborhoods; based on the responses,
Redmoon finalized 15 official neighborhoods and 36 community-based organizations to target in the
inaugural year. In the Spring of 2014, Redmoon further expanded its team by hiring canvas leaders to
manage the Summer Celebration events, bringing on talented undergraduate fellows from the
University of Chicago to support the canvas leaders, as well as the expert builders and makers tasked
with constructing the large-scale machines and sculptures for the October 4th finale. Redmoon applied
to be a program provider through After School Mattersa Chicago nonprofit that offers teens free
high-quality, out-of-school apprenticeship and internship opportunities to gain skills in the arts,
science, sports, technology, and communications. Ultimately, Redmoon launched three After School
Matters programs, and worked with nearly 90 teens from across the city to help build the Festivals
infrastructure.
Progress to Date
In its inaugural year, the Great Chicago Fire Festival is focused on building a strong foundation for it
to grow in the coming years. Redmoons key measures of success include: How many local
community members participate in the Summer Celebration events? Of that number, how many
joined us at the river for the October 4th finale? Post-event, how many of our partners feel that the
festival was successful within their community? Redmoon is also working with its partners at the City
of Chicago to conduct an economic impact study on the festivals October 4th finale, to understand the
extent that the event attracted regional, national, and international tourism to the city.