Sudbury summer arts festival Up Fest rebranded as Up Here

A Sudbury summer arts event is changing its name as it seeks to create its own festival identity.

Christian Pelletier, co-founder of Up Fest,said the event entering it's second yearwill now be called Up Here after finding out another festival in the U.K. had the same name. Pelletiersaid the European group didn't force the name change but it was still necessary.

"Last year was a huge success, and that's why we had to change this name now to make sure we could keep growing and not cause any confusion," he explained.

Pelletiertold CBC News the change was a simple one and is an important move to ensure the festival has its own identity. He said planning for this year's event is already underway.

"I can tell you we are working on a really neat collaborative mural project between two communities so it would be from Sudbury to another community that would be collaborating through technology on some sort of piece, I'm not going to reveal more than that."

The festival co-founder acknowledged there is a magazine based in Yellowknife called Up Here but it's happy to share the name.

More than 250 artists have applied to take part in Up Here this summer, according to Pelletier. Thefestival featuresmurals, emerging musicand art installations. It will be taking place from Aug. 11 to 13 in downtown Sudbury.