BATON ROUGE – An annual highlight of the Red Stick International Animation Festival is the Princess Ball, an evening of dancing, dress-up and fairytale fun at Louisiana’s Old State Capitol.
As Red Stick changes seasons for its sixth year, taking place Nov. 10-13 in downtown Baton Rouge’s Arts District, the Princess Ball again will be part of the festivities. Festival staff have spent the past several weeks soliciting input from previous attendees to make this event a more magical experience for families.
The theme for the 2010 Princess Ball will be “Storybook Princesses from Around the World … and Beyond,” to highlight the arrival of “Fandemonium,” Red Stick’s new Con event that will premiere at the sixth annual festival. Guests are welcome to attend Princess Ball dressed as princesses from stories, games, and cultures of their choosing, from this planet or others.
“We are excited about the enthusiasm for Princess Ball, which attracted more than 2,000 people last year,” said Stacey Simmons, Ph.D., Red Stick International Animation Festival Director. “With so much interest from the community, we wanted to ask our guests for their suggestions to help us plan an enjoyable evening that will improve their experience.”
For the past two years, the Princess Ball took place on a Friday night during the festival. Many parents indicated this presented challenges with rushing to get downtown after work, and also with finding available parking. This year, to make it easier for families to come downtown and attend the event, Red Stick will host Princess Ball the Sunday preceding the festival, Nov. 7, and the ball will begin in the afternoon.
Another change the festival will make for the Princess Ball, based on feedback from previous guests, is implementing a ticket system to purchase passes in advance.
“Most people indicated they would prefer to purchase tickets that would guarantee them a place inside the magical Old State Capitol, which only holds 300 people, than take chances with a first-come, first-served system, as we did last year,” Simmons said. “In 2009, we were delighted with the enthusiasm of the community, but somewhat overwhelmed by the 2,000 attendee response. The top suggestion by parents for us to improve future Princess Balls was that we have paid tickets instead of free passes, so we took their advice.”
Red Stick will begin selling Princess Ball tickets for $20 each this fall, via the festival Web site, www.redstickfestival.org. Tickets are non-refundable. The festival will announce Princess Ball ticket sales opening and information about other festival events as the dates approach.
“We thank everyone who took the time to participate in the feedback and focus groups to make Princess Ball a memorable evening for their children, and we feel these changes will improve the event, making this year’s ball our most successful,” Simmons said.
Red Stick is the largest animation festival in the United States. LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology sponsors the festival in partnership with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, Shaw Center for the Arts, Manship Theatre, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, and Louisiana Old State Capitol.
For more information about the festival, please visit “We thank everyone who took the time to participate in the feedback and focus groups to make Princess Ball a memorable evening for their children, and we feel these changes will improve the event, making this year’s ball our most successful,” Simmons said.
Red Stick is the largest animation festival in the United States. LSU’s Center for Computation & Technology sponsors the festival in partnership with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President’s Office, Shaw Center for the Arts, Manship Theatre, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, and Louisiana Old State Capitol.
For more information about the festival, please visit www.redstickfestival.org.
Publish Date:
06-29-2010
