The Cruelty Free Festival
Creative Production & Culture Festival
The Cruelty-Free Festival is by far one of my proudest accomplishments; it is also one of the first projects I produced.
Working with Animal Liberation, we produced this community event and over the duration of three years grew the event to become a combination of trade shows, food festivals, live stage shows, educational seminars and activations.
Initially, I signed on as another festival producer to assist with logistics and exhibitor management. However, when working on the schedule my creative side kicked in and pitched the idea of pulling items from our exhibitors and putting on a promotional fashion show to entertain and advertise to patrons. The team loved the idea and I began working on this project alongside festival planning.
Working with Animal Liberation, we produced this community event and over the duration of three years grew the event to become a combination of trade shows, food festivals, live stage shows, educational seminars and activations.
Initially, I signed on as another festival producer to assist with logistics and exhibitor management. However, when working on the schedule my creative side kicked in and pitched the idea of pulling items from our exhibitors and putting on a promotional fashion show to entertain and advertise to patrons. The team loved the idea and I began working on this project alongside festival planning.
Community Festival.
Show Design & Staging.
Activation Building.
Creative Project Management.
Planning & Crewing
As a young producer, this project was a HUGE feat. The festival is purely funded by donations - which meant I needed to get creative with how to build a great show with almost zero budget.
Using my fashion design background from a previous life - I was able to take on the show planning, outfit styling and most of the creative direction myself.
However, I needed to:
To my delight, the exhibitors jumped at the idea and were very happy to showcase their clothing. Word spread through the community very quickly, and we soon had donations of CFF products to use for the show, models who were happy to volunteer and crew excited to lend their expertise.
Using my fashion design background from a previous life - I was able to take on the show planning, outfit styling and most of the creative direction myself.
However, I needed to:
- Pull together a team of dressers, models to walk the show and MC's to host.
- Secure MUAs & Hair Stylist as well as provide a selection of products that fit into the CFF Values.
- Score a backing track for the show, design the lighting and script the show for the MCs.
- Sign on exhibitors to participate in the show, and loan stock for the models to wear.
To my delight, the exhibitors jumped at the idea and were very happy to showcase their clothing. Word spread through the community very quickly, and we soon had donations of CFF products to use for the show, models who were happy to volunteer and crew excited to lend their expertise.
Once I had my team ready and waiting, it was time to style the show, write the script and design the look & feel from top to bottom.
It was all on me to ensure we had a well-rounded show, including;
The show was a great success, and we were able to use this momentum to grow the show over the three years I was with CFF.
Expanding our activation schedule to include a sponsored speed-dating corner, art auction and kid-corner with a full-day program and supervision.
It was all on me to ensure we had a well-rounded show, including;
- Hair & make-up outline.
- Style each outfit.
- Write the script for the MC's.
- Design the show soundtrack.
- Build the runsheet, outfit changes and lighting design.
The show was a great success, and we were able to use this momentum to grow the show over the three years I was with CFF.
Expanding our activation schedule to include a sponsored speed-dating corner, art auction and kid-corner with a full-day program and supervision.
Designing and Staging
