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Heidi Ugrin and Luke Nickel, creators and curators of Cluster.

Luke Nickel, co-director of Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival, talks a lot about "magic," that instant when art begins to emerge out of spontaneity.
   
The festival, a three-day exploration of contemporary sound and art, began last year in response to the lack of symphonic ‘new music’ in Winnipeg, and the desire to nurture a larger collaborative artistic community.
   
"We saw this need to integrate all of the diverse artistic communities," says Nickel, an interdisciplinary artist and composer who studied composition at the University of Manitoba. "We have so many great artists and so many great musicians. We don’t often find them all in one place, and we don’t often collaborate as much as we could. We really thought that the need wasn’t only for a new music festival, but for bringing all of these groups together."
     
Since its first go in 2010, Nickel says the show has been "growing at a breakneck speed." This year, there will be close to 50 acts including composers, musicians and visual and intermedia artists.
   
Each night will be totally different from the next, Nickel says. The first night, dubbed The Inner Owl, at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, will begin with Montreal organ virtuoso Alexandra Fol, followed by local chamber choir Antiphony and Trio ’86. Both will perform amid video projections that are cast on gigantic screens hanging from balconies.
   
Friday night’s Resolutions & Irresolutions at 318 Ross Ave. will feature intermedia artist Freya Olafson, who will be performing her arresting work, AVATAR. Giorgio Magnanensi, celebrated West Coast composer, Vancouver New Music artistic director, circuit-bent toy performer and, as of late, video artist, will also be leading a large-scale improvisation with local jazz and classically trained musicians.
   
"As soon as we started the festival, we thought, ‘We gotta get this guy in here,’" Nickel says. "He sort of does everything. When we approached him, he was like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ and gave us this long list of just bizarre and zany things."
   
Speaking of bizarre and zany things, three floors of absurdity at 318 Ross Ave. will close off the festival with Saturday’s finale, BLITZ. The massive Exchange District warehouse — which houses around a dozen artist studios — will host a dance party that starts at 11 p.m, the premiere of an unusual new musical instrument called the Wallballs, and a minimalist DJ set by Nathan Zahn. In addition to the regular programming, all of the studios will be open and each will have something going on inside, such as performance pieces, projections and/or exhibits.
   
The main floor mainstage will also showcase a surrealist cabaret. Nickel says the piece is so loosely developed that he has no idea how it’s going to play out.
   
"I know the director has all sorts of wild ideas, like having the musicians playing in straight jackets, and projections, and there could be a dancer," he says. "We don’t know.
   
"It’s that kind of thing that’s both incredibly scary as an organizer, but also really thrilling. Then when you watch it, you’re watching something so raw, and something so new that you haven’t seen before, that you can’t have seen before, and it’s really a magical feeling."
   
For a full list of performers, visit www.clusterfestival.com.

CLUSTER NEW MUSIC AND INTEGRATED ARTS FESTIVAL
March 24-26, various venues