The Preston Arts Collective will light up the night at Central Park next weekend when the second annual Preston Lanter Project returns Sept. 28.
"This year's theme is to make lanterns that look like little houses or structures of different kinds," says Jessica Penney, a Cambridge artist who took inspiration for the first lantern project from a lantern festival at St. John's, NL.
After the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, many Cambridge artists wanted to reconnect and work together after isolating themselves for so long, Penney explained.
So, as part of the Cambridge Culture Days celebration last year, the project launched in Central Park, filling it with light and art made by the entire community.
The lantern project offered an opportunity to create art that reflected Cambridge and their pride, Penney said.
"It was an activity to connect, collaborate, have fun," and shake off any lingering feelings of isolation after the pandemic lockdown.
Similar to the St. John's event, the Preston project aims to highlight historical and natural features using either glass jars or paper lanterns that glow when a flame or LED candle is lit inside.
"We also have lanterns inspired by our Cambridge monuments, buildings, businesses and stuff like that," she said.
The Preston Arts Collective's main goal is to build strong community relationships through art, so in the weeks leading up to the event this year, they hosted free lantern building workshops around the city to generate more lanterns and inform the public.
Last year offered an opportunity to gauge interest and visualize the kind of event they wanted.
This year they sought local business sponsors like the Lennox and Penny Law Firm to buy material for the event. It has also garnered more support from the Preston Towne Centre Business Improvement Area.
"Some businesses sent their employees to build lanterns representing their business. While some artists made lanterns for businesses at a small fee," Penney says.
Penney says the group is hoping for a lot of community engagement this year and they'd like to see more people of all ages come out to participate, and see the lanterns light up the park.
"It's great to have the Arts Collective here and have some projects we're working on together, like the Lantern Project," said Nancy Brent, a Cambridge artist and registered massage therapist.
Artists tend to work alone in their studios while musicians often collaborate, she said. Events like the Preston Lantern Project help connect local artists and community members.
"Though we're many artists and the community involvement too, we come together to take our little piece and make one giant installation, which is unique."
"So even though you're creating one small lantern, it's the many lanterns that go together that make it a bigger piece."
Penney said she is open to forming partnerships with other organizations that could benefit local businesses as interest in the Lantern Project grows.
But for now, she wants to focus more on what she wants the lantern project to accomplish, to act as a simple community event that will create engagement from Preston locals and strengthen the Cambridge arts scene.
The Second Annual Preston Lantern Project returns to Central Park, Preston, between dusk and 11 p.m. September 28.
