Orlando’s largest-scale interactive arts installation is back.
After a two-year hiatus, Immerse will once again close down the streets of downtown Orlando next weekend, and fill the whole area with arts experiences of all kinds, large and small. There are dozens of participating organizations, including at least a handful of new Orlando groups debuting at Immerse.
Cole NeSmith heads Creative City Project, the organization behind Immerse.
He describes it as “a large scale performance and interactive arts festival across ten city blocks of downtown Orlando, with hundreds of performances and visual and interactive art pieces down the roadways and business plazas across the city, whether that is acrobats hanging from cranes, or dance groups on stages in the middle of the roadway, or large scale lighting installations and sculptures.”
“It has something for everybody,” NeSmith says.
Only in Orlando
And this, NeSmith notes, is the magic of Central Florida and its vibrant, unique arts community – in this area, “local artists” covers everything from the Blue Man Group to Cirque du Soleil to Opera Orlando to A Magi Belly Dance and more.
“People ask me, ‘Have you ever considered doing Immerse anywhere else?’ And my response to them is usually, ‘Honestly, Immerse couldn't happen in most other places, unless there was an incredible philanthropist who is willing to put ten million dollars into flying a bunch of artists in from around the country,’” he laughs. “We are so fortunate here in Central Florida to have so many world class artists and arts organizations that they don't have to fly…they can just travel a few miles and be downtown to join us for the event!”
NeSmith says part of Central Florida’s rich arts and cultural scene can be traced back to the world-class talent drawn here to perform at theme parks and attractions. And that is true in the case of a new group called Orlando Vocal Collective, featuring mostly Disney singers and debuting with a never-before-heard Beyonce and Michael Jackson fusion medley, sung from a massive three-story platform set up in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
An Immerse Debut
Chris Keough is the founder, director and arranger for the Orlando Vocal Collective. He, too, has Disney bona fides, singing with the theme park’s vocal powerhouse Voices of Liberty for over a decade. He started as a teenager. And in forming Orlando Vocal Collective, he saw a chance to give back.
“I specifically wanted to highlight the talent we have available, and the talent that I have experienced and that has changed my life on a grand scale,” Keough said. “And so this felt like the perfect time to basically form a group that was an elevated and elite group of vocalists and also professionals.”
“But when casting this, it was also important that these people were kind in spirit and took opportunities whenever they could to elevate those around them,” he added.
Keough himself arranged the Beyonce/Michael Jackson medley, a nod to his influences. “The most exciting and rewarding feeling is hearing something that was only in my head previously, translate to the voice, and to be able to communicate this to 20 very talented but very different singers, and to find one group sound that highlights all of their unique tones and textures, but comes together for one group sound…how my passion ignites their passion and hopefully affects and changes lives through this entire process. That's been the most beautiful thing for me.”
