Warren Gerds/Critic at Large: Pot's boiling on next edition of area festival

BAILEYS HARBOR, Wis - Door Kinetic Arts Festival returns this week to encourage creativity among established artists of stage, screen and the visual arts.

Cutting to the quick of an interview with founder Eric Simonson answering this: For the artists in the festival, what’s in it for them?

Simonson: “What we’re giving them is a space to focus on a particular work that they are working on. You could argue the point that they get that anyway – all they have to do is make that space. But, as any artist will tell you, many times that just doesn’t happen. Things get in the way. Life gets in the way. We give them a designated time and a designated place, which is, I think, a very inspirational place to create. We give them the opportunity.

“We bring their artists – the artists they want to collaborate with – all together in one space where everyone’s mind is set on one particular project. What we want to do is take that project one step further, one big step further to fruition. They get to see it in front of an audience, perhaps for the first time, which gives them invaluable feedback. We also give them a time when they can meet other artists, perhaps in different mediums, and exchange different ideas. And that may influence what they’re working on, but it also may influence them on future projects.”