ORGANISERS of an illuminating festival in the heart of Worcester have promised another night full of colours and sound.
Light Night Worcester has kicked off a second night of fun (Wednesday) after a successful return to the city last night (Tuesday).
This year, the festival is bigger and bolder than before, taking place over three evenings and featuring four brand-new large-scale projections created specifically for Worcester, a rolling programme of playful performances and an enchanting parade of decorated bikes.
Thousands of people came to the city to be delighted and entranced by the spectacular performances programmed by The Arches Festivals.
Worcester resident Clare Di-Vito said: “We came last year and are so glad Light Night is back again. We had so much fun seeing the projections and the kids really liked seeing how they could change what was happening on the interactive platform.
“They were running around chasing the animations from the bikes and the angels were just beautiful!”
At the Old Palace, audiences saw children as big as the building itself transforming it with their imaginations during Lilliput by imitating the dog.
Crowds gathered outside the Guildhall where ringing bells set off animations about different guilds in Ring the Changes by Illuminos.
Mark Murphy’s Remember the Future caught the attention of people with a series of stunning digital collages made from vintage images of how people imagined the future would look like.
Outside the Granary audience members played with the interactive projection called Rewild by Limbic Cinema and marvelled as plant life spread across the building and animals came to visit.
From Cathedral Square to the Corn Market, Corvus Angelicus – beautiful ten-foot-tall angels, projector bikes and giant illuminated Ghost Caribou gathered excited crowds as they provided more entertainment with their playful performances.
David Edmunds, festivals artistic director for Severn Arts said: “This year we have taken things even further than Light Night 2020. The level of creative ambition, in both ourselves as the festival producer and also the artists we appointed, is exactly what our audiences in Worcester deserve.
“I am so proud of what we have achieved and thrilled that already so many people have been able to enjoy Light Night 2021 and the transformation of the city – and there are still two more nights to go!”
Laura Worsfold, CEO of Severn Arts said: “We’re delighted to be presenting Light Night 2021 and hope that everyone finds time to visit the city and explore the many installations and walk abouts. It’s wonderful to see events happening again after such a long period of change and uncertainty. We hope that Worcester’s residents will come out and support and enjoy what there is to see.”
Several of last night’s festival visitors had started early with a visit to Dines Green first to watch or take part in Lullaby – a parade of bikes decorated with lights and a brand-new, surround-sound composition created by local school children with composer Andy Taylor.
Lullaby was supported by Bike Worcester, University of Worcester Woo Bike Scheme and Light Night Worcester sponsor CityFibre.
Neal Wright, CityFibre’s City Manager for Worcester said: “We were privileged to be the sponsor of such fantastic event which combined heritage and culture with a futuristic experience. It has been great to see the return of Light Night and on an even bigger and better scale and we were delighted to see that it brought smiles to the faces of everyone who attended.”
Light Night Worcester is a free event, and it is the same programme each night so there is still plenty of time to see everything and even go back a second time. Lullaby will be visiting Warndon tonight (Wednesday) and Ronkswood tomorrow (Thursday), the final night of the festival.
Visit thearchesworcesterfestivals.co.uk/light-night where you can download maps of everything that is happening in the city and the bike routes for Lullaby.
Follow @archesfests on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more.
