The International Garden Festival is preparing its seventh edition and is issuing a call for entries to select some of the designers who will be invited to create temporary gardens for the 2006 Festival. This call for entries is open to all landscape architects, architects, artists and designers from Canada and abroad. The deadline for submission of entries is Monday, October 31, 2005.
The Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens, located on the shores of the St. Lawrence and Mitis rivers in eastern Québec, attract approximately 100,000 visitors every summer. Designed as a private garden by a collector and avid gardener, the Reford Gardens were declared a national historic site in 1996 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
The International Garden Festival, which takes place on a site adjacent to the historical gardens, is a unique forum for innovation and experimentation which consists in the presentation of temporary gardens created by Québec, Canadian and international designers. Launched in 2000 the International Garden Festival has presented over 50 gardens by designers from 9 countries. It is an exceptional showcase and launching pad for the participating designers from a host of disciplines. This artistic and tourism event also gives visitors a chance to discover inspiring spaces bringing together the visual arts, architecture, design, landscape and nature.
The International Garden Festival is a past winner of the National Post Design Exchange Awards, the Grand Prix du tourisme québécois in the "Tourist Attraction" category and the Attractions Canada Award for Quebec in the "Cultural Event" category. The Festival received the Award of excellence from the Société des musées québécois as the best exhibition of the year in 2002.
The International Garden Festival is managed by a not-for-profit foundation whose mission is the advancement of research and innovation in the art of gardens.
The Objectives of the Festival
The International Garden Festival is a cultural and tourism event held at the Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens, a historic site that attracts approximately 100,000 visitors every summer. The Festival is a unique forum for innovation and experimentation in the art of gardens. It is an exceptional showcase and launching pad for the participating designers from a host of disciplines. This artistic and tourism event also gives visitors a chance to discover inspiring spaces bringing together the visual arts, architecture, design, landscapes and nature.
The Festival encourages participants to explore all facets of the garden, from the reality of the physical setting (site and context) to creating a range of sensory, emotive and intellectual experiences for the visitor. The Festival sees the garden as a space for creative interpretation and a theme for reflection, while not negating its botanical and horticultural dimensions. The Festival conceives the garden as a multi-sensorial space and encourages participants to consider the visitor's experience in the conception of the garden, provoking interaction, participation, exchange and reflection.
Schedule
November 14, 2005
The selection is made and designers are invited to present proposals. Site descriptions are given to selected designers (sites to be allocated at random)
January 9, 2006
Designers submit preliminary drawings of gardens
February 20, 2006
Designers submit final plans and specifications for gardens in accordance with the comments of the Festival's artistic and technical committee
February 27, 2006
The Festival's artistic and technical committee gives its comments and approves plans and specifications
February 27 to May 5, 2006
Purchase of materials and preparation of plants by the Festival in collaboration with the designers
May 8, 2006
Construction of temporary gardens by the Festival team begins
June 18 to 25, 2006
Designers are present for the completion of the gardens, to participate in the opening events, meet the public and the media
June 23, 2006
Inauguration of the Festival
June 24, 2006
The Festival is open to the public
June 24, 2006
Designers meet with the public
July and August 2006
Program of summer activities (to be determined).
The program may include the participation of designers in various public activities (presentations, lectures, etc)
October 1, 2006
The Festival closes
The schedule is subject to modification.