WaterFire Uses Social Media, Film Festival to Engage With Audience

Providence, R.I. -- On Saturday, October 12, WaterFire Providence will collaborate with the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation for the annual “Flames of Hope” celebration. At 8:15pm there will be a lighting of the Waterplace Basin and a special 150 person torch salute in honor of individuals living with breast cancer and those lost to the disease. This event will be preceded by the lighting of the rest of the WaterFire installation at 6:30pm, with the river-based braziers remaining lit until midnight.

            As part of an ongoing project, WaterFire will be taking submissions for their “15 Seconds of Flame” Film Festival throughout the evening. The film festival, based on mobile video apps Instagram and Vine, encourages visitors to take videos of the WaterFire installation and tag them with #waterfirefilmfest for a chance to win prizes, including a limited edition t-shirt. The videos can be simple or highly edited, depending on the skill of the maker.

            The film festival is one aspect of WaterFire’s unique social media strategy, which aims to engage visitors and encourage them to take part in the popular event. Throughout the night visitors will also be welcomed to share their feelings about the installation, as well as stories of their personal experiences at WaterFire, with staff at an interactive media station located on Canal Street. Guests will be invited to share their feedback in one of two ways. They can choose to write their WaterFire message on a white board and be photographed holding it, or can have a video recorded of them expressing their thoughts. The resulting photos and videos will be shared on WaterFire’s Facebook and Twitter, encouraging further discussion about the art installation on social media.

            For more information about these initiatives, visit the WaterFire website at www.waterfire.org.