IMMERSE Festival<\/a> is underway in Downtown Orlando, spanning 10 blocks along Orange Ave.
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Performances include musicians, dancers and acrobats
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Saturday’s event is scheduled 5 p.m – 11 p.m, while daytime fireworks are scheduled at 1 p.m on Sunday
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The festival promotes the art and music scene throughout the city\u00a0<\/p>\nThe annual festival is organized by the nonprofit Creative City Project, started by a group of friends in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that Orlando\u2019s creative talent is world class and one of a kind, so we love platforming artists to create things that literally people can only experience here in our home,\u201d said artistic director Cole NeSmith.<\/p>\n
As the years went on, the crowds and lineup got larger \u2014 allowing the city to immerse itself in the creativity. Hundreds of artists and performers are part of it, such as dancers, musicians, acrobats and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what you experience, you\u2019re going to experience something amazing and totally different from everybody else,\u201d said NeSmith.<\/p>\n
The art experience spans 10 blocks downtown. Performers are located throughout Orange Avenue, Church Street, Pine Street, Magnolia Avenue, City Hall’s City Commons Plaza, Dr. Phillips Center\u2019s Seneff Plaza and Frontyard, Seaside Plaza, Duncan Plaza and Lake Eola.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first time Jack Ballard attended the event, alongside his friend Emma Beaty, who says she\u2019s seen lots of art and music since walking in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like really random and you don\u2019t know what\u2019s around the corner,\u201d said Ballard. \u201cFun to explore for sure, like this is the most fun I\u2019ve had exploring downtown in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a first for vendors like Heather Scott, an author and artist located in the market near city hall, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many people who\u2019ve already stopped by so I\u2019m excited to meet more people and share my art with them,\u201d said Scott.<\/p>\n
Organizers say they saw about 75,000 visitors last year and expect to surpass 100,000 people this year.<\/p>\n
IMMERSE is presented by AdventHealth, but also receives support from the City of Orlando\u2019s Downtown Development Board.<\/p>\n
\u201cTourists are coming in, they\u2019re staying in these hotels, and they\u2019re paying a tax that benefits arts and culture,\u201d said NeSmith. \u201cSo we\u2019re really grateful for leaders who are committed to recognizing that the arts make a positive impact on our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s festivities kick off at 5 p.m. through 11 p.m. Sunday\u2019s fireworks show begins at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Artists and performers are center focus at IMMERSE in Downtown Orlando. What You Need To Know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1595,8273,19704,4092,2813,1015,115,1335,139,141,140,106],"class_list":{"0":"post-164137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-arts-entertainment","9":"tag-app-latest-arts-entertainment-stories","10":"tag-app-latest-arts-stories","11":"tag-app-things-to-do","12":"tag-arts","13":"tag-emma-delamo","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-orange-county","16":"tag-orlando","17":"tag-orlando-headlines","18":"tag-orlando-news","19":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}