CINCINNATI -- Didn't snag tickets to the final Lumenocity next month? Good news: The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is throwing a free block party every day of the event, and it's open to everyone.
The Lumeonocity: Re-Imagine Block Party will be on Fifth Street, outside the Taft Theatre, from Aug. 5-7. Fifth Street will be closed from Sycamore to Broadway starting at 7 p.m. Aug. 5 and will stay closed through the weekend.
Some of the party will also be in the P&G pavilion. The CSO is planning "interactive, family-friendly art experiences," including:
- a virtual reality dome where people can make 3-D virtual art using Google Tilt Brush and see creations by local artists;
- an interactive installation that transforms movement into sound, light and color;
- an area where people can try out different musical instruments;
- a lantern parade Friday night
- a Family Fund Zone with art projects, face painting, lantern-making, bubble-making, glow jump-ropes
- food trucks and beverage stations (including Rhinegeist's Glow pale ale created for Lumenocity).
People with tickets to Lumenocity can stop by the CSO box office booth for a wristband, letting them get into the Taft more quickly. And, there's a ticket drawing for people who didn't get tickets to the show and have never been to a CSO or Pops concert. Winners will get a chance to buy tickets to this year's Lumenocity concerts.
People at the block party can watch Lumenocity on a giant LED screen at 9:40 p.m. Aug. 5, and 3:40 and 9:40 p.m. Aug. 6 and Aug. 7. WCPO will air the 9:40 p.m. Aug. 6 Lumenocity show. Coverage will start with a Lumenocity special at 9 p.m., followed by the live show and then the post-show "Afterglow."
The Lumenocity: Re-Imagine Block Party is open 7 p.m. to midnight Friday, Aug. 5; 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Aug. 6, and 1 to 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7.
For the past three years, Lumenocity has blanketed Music Hall’s east wall with an extravagant light show. But with massive renovations underway at Music Hall -- and the CSO making its home at the Taft for the 2016-2017 season -- organizers decided to relocate the wildly popular midsummer program for its fourth and final year.
The CSO decided to discontinue Lumenocity because it’s expensive and, for the staff, all-consuming. The cost of this year’s production is estimated at $1.5 million, roughly 3 percent of the company’s annual operating budget. And by August 2017, the CSO will want to focus all of its attention on returning to the renovated Music Hall.
