Give Your Love to LightNight Liverpool

LightNight takes place annually, since 2010, attracting ten of thousands of visitors each year. From raves in Liverpool Cathedral, to soundscapes in Moorfields Train Station, LightNight makes art and the city come to life. The work and energy that goes into that one night of activity takes an army of creatives.

This year, LightNight is planned for Friday 21 May 2021, and you'll be able to see the lineup from 5 May online.

Managed and produced by Community Interest Company Open Culture, LightNight celebrates Liverpool’s creatives from artists to designers, makers to DJs, musicians and drummers, both indoors and outdoors in venues, public spaces and non-traditional arts spaces. LightNight is inclusive and passionate, creating a moment to experience something profoundly special, as the arts and the audience come together. 

SUPPORT OUR CREATIVE COMMUNITY

Creative communities are at the heart of cities like Liverpool. The idea of LightNight is to experience art outside of traditional settings. Art can bring us all together and help us get through difficult times. It feels especially important following what has been a particularly challenging year. When art fills our arts venues it envelopes us in a big hug, bringing us together as a community.

 At the centre are the creatives, the freelance army who put their time, expertise and energy into major events like LightNight. This past 12 months has been especially hard on them. Major festivals like LightNight provide a regular date in the calendar and many freelancers work on Liverpool’s various festival programmes throughout the year.

As well as connecting with audiences and bringing us together, these festivals, like LightNight are really important for artists.

LightNight is a strong supporter of grassroots projects and often provides an artist with their first opportunity to put their ideas into practice. For many artists LightNight is home to their first major exhibition. One of the aspects the team at Open Culture does is it matches artists and their ideas to locations. The artist benefits from working with a core creative team, who helps to shape the work and make it a reality.

Works you have seen at LightNight then goes on to have a life elsewhere at many other festivals and events. LightNight is a fertile ground for artists, helping them to learn, develop and grow. It is one of the reasons Liverpool has such a rich and versatile artistic community, events like LightNight help artists to get that first foot on the ladder of their artistic career or help more established artists develop their practice in different ways. It also helps venues trail and tease new ways of working.

WHY WE ARE CROWDFUNDING

Usually, the LightNight Festival Guide forms an important part of our annual income. Without it in 2021, we have a gap. We had to remove it to allow greater planning time for artists and arts organisations as this year as we know is not like an ordinary year.  The timeline for reopening means there is still uncertainty for events like LightNight, and it will not be the same as in previous years. Arts events like LightNight are used to growing and shrinking to fit our budget, but we want to be able to support creatives like we usually do.

YOUR DONATION 

Every donation you make helps us to make LightNight happen. 

Your support will ensure:

— We can run this year’s festival as planned, as a hybrid event (both in-person and online programme), allowing a contingency plan of an online programme, due to the unpredictable situation with Covid-19. 

— We can continue to support our team of creatives to deliver and offer this important annual one night festival, as they work so hard to produce a memorable festival experience. 

— We can replace some of the income we would normally raise through printed Festival Guide sales.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Open Culture and the LightNight team

Thanks to The Hatch for LightNight film footage

LightNight 2021 is supported using public funding by Arts Council England and Liverpool City Council with additional support from Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool BID Company. Our festival partners include Adlib, Homotopia, Liverpool Biennial, and METAL. Our Media partner is The Guide Liverpool.