PREVIEW: Light Up Lancaster spectacle extended to dazzle for three nights

Due to its popularity, the festival is extending its usual two-day duration and will take place November 2 to 4, from 5pm - 9pm.

For the full line up of events visit www.lightuplancaster.co.uk

Light Up Lancaster will return to mesmerise crowds once more, on a journey through the city's squares and enchanting alleyways, creating an immersive world of light art installations and captivating performances of music, art, and dance.

It is being delivered and managed by Lancaster BID, imitating the dog, The Dukes and Mirador with support from Lancaster City Council.

A new addition this year will take place at Lancaster Market Square, which will come alive with local street food stalls offering a wide range of hot food, cakes and drinks.

Visitors can grab something to eat and drink from the stalls or surrounding shops, sit in a beautifully lit dining space and enjoy live music from local musicians throughout the night.

Creating a community hub for LUL, the market is brought by LESS, a Lancaster-based charity.

Familiar locations return this year, with the ever popular Castle Illuminations being created by Illuminos, presenting The Great Cower, promising projections that will capture the beauty, scale, imagination and fancifulness of the artists who embellished the Great Cowcher, more than 500 years ago.

Dalton Square will be lit by imitating the dog, with their project project Dear Einstein.

In an elegy to a great scientific mind, it will playfully ask some of the BIG questions about life’s ups and downs, combining aa trademark video design, an original score by James Hamilton and live performance with local singers.St John's church will feature an interactive, projected tempest – a hyper-real representation of bodies of water as a source of life, and the mysteries they hold within.

Using a live generative particle system, the tempest will be reactive to the viewer's presence, full of surprises, enchantment and encouraging playfulness as audiences move under the ‘curled clouds’ above – the third and final part of the company’s interactive ‘water’ trilogy, all supported and commissioned by Light Up Lancaster.

The Storey Gardens will feature a project called Firefly Field, a light installation of numerous flying light points that stimulate the movements of the nocturnal Lampyridae. The ever-changing bioluminescence of each one is reflected in the grassy slope. On mass, they create a dynamic light scene that triggers visitors’ curiosity and awe.

With extended hours, running from 5pm to 9 pm each night, almost double the duration from last year, visitors will have ample time to experience the brilliance and wonder of this one-of-a-kind festival.

Light Up Lancaster has captivated audiences since 2013 and, thanks to generous funding from Arts Council England (ACE), Lancaster City Council, Lancaster BID, and several other esteemed contributors, promises to be an exceptional fusion of art, culture, and history, taking visitors on a luminous journey through the artistic interpretations of words and language as this year’s theme focuses on The Art of Words.All are welcome to celebrate this remarkable expansion of one of Lancaster's most cherished traditions.

LINKS:

Facebook: @lightuplancaster

X: @lightuplanc

Instagram: @lightuplanc