When Blink revived itself in 2022, after stopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHHS was invited to participate in the festivities. The fine arts department immediately set to work, preparing for four nights of exciting performances on their own stage. The students found this experience informative and fun, however; the past two years the chamber orchestra has decided not to participate due to a variety of reasons.
Even though the chamber orchestra and most of the other classes that participated haven’t again, the drumline did perform during the parade this year.
Blink is a large-scale outdoor illuminated art installation that takes place in downtown Cincinnati. It features over 100
installations and spans 30 blocks of downtown, featuring light-up murals, buildings and sculptures. This year, it will occur on Oct. 7—20.
With a four-hour required commitment each of the four nights, all of the classes chipped in to help fill these time slots. Whether it was music, theater, or visual arts, the students who participated walked away with the experience of a lifetime. Though it was as amazing as it was stressful, the people that participated in Blink think that it was a very beneficial experience and taught them many new skills.
Maeve Henderson, ‘25, is one of the students who participated in Blink in 2022. She is a part of the chamber orchestra. The whole experience brought her closer to the other people in the chamber orchestra and showed her that they could shine just as bright as the other performers.
“It showed us that we could play together in front of everyone,” Henderson said.
Though it was a great experience, it was also extremely stressful for both the students and the teachers. The students wanted to ensure that they could perform to the best of their abilities, and the teachers wanted to make sure that everyone was having a good time.
“It was a lot of work and it was a big deal and it was a little stressful, and I am not upset that we don’t do something like that every year,” Henderson said.
(Grace Aber)
While the students had to learn their music, the teachers were in charge of organizing buses to get everyone downtown, as well as transportation for the instruments and other equipment that was needed.
“I think it was one of the hardest processes for me in all of my years of teaching,” John Caliguri, one of the chamber orchestra teachers, said.
Though participating in Blink was both stressful and amazing, the students and staff that participated before agree on the fact that it makes sense to them that they haven’t been asked to participate again.
“It makes sense [that WHHS hasn’t participated again] because it was a rare opportunity and I am just grateful that I got to do it,” Henderson said.
If they were to be asked to do it again, the teachers and students agree on the fact that they would only want to have one night to fill, so that their experience would be more of a collaboration instead of all of the participating classes making their own things. However, both agree that Blink was overall a lot of fun and contributed to many memories.
“Everyone having their glow gear on and everyone playing together,” Henderson said. “It just felt like we were a big, happy team.”