It’s time for LightNight:LightNight reveals full programme
Over 100 arts organisations come together for Liverpool’s “culture crawl” as the full programme is released
Liverpool will come alive for its eighth annual LightNight on Friday 19 May with over 100 free cultural events at venues across the city.
As festival organisers Open Culture release the full line up for this year, it’s revealed over 100 arts organisations are coming together to stage the free late night festival, with more than 900 artists and performers taking part to respond to the theme of time.
Venues opening late into the night will include Tate Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Bluecoat, Black Lodge Brewery, FACT, Liverpool Cathedral, Dorothy, LJMU John Lennon Building, Everyman Theatre, Constellations, Liverpool Town Hall, Baltic Creative and many more.
A number of new venues will throw open their doors for the 2017 festival, including Unity Theatre which will reopen to the public on LightNight following a £845k redevelopment marked by a special series of mini-commissions and a ‘reawakening’ ceremony.
Liverpool Philharmonic will open up the main auditorium for the first time on LightNight alongside the Music Room space staging a full night of performances from Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, guitarist Craig Ogden, Rubber Duck Orchestra and more.
Liverpool Parish Church is amongst the new venues taking part, playing host to Liverpool Biennial who will present new works by artists Frances Disley and Stephen Sheehan.
Liverpool John Moores’ University – LightNight’s principal sponsor – open up spaces across the campus staging special activities including ‘Time, Space and Climate Change’ at the John Foster Building, featuring experts from LJMU’s Astrophysics Research Institute and Department of Geography delving into the vastness of space, past climates and a glimpse into the future to look at the impact of climate change.
The National Oceanography Centre on the Liverpool University campus will open to the public to give visitors the rare opportunity to see the intricate analogue tide predicting machines alongside new work by artist Pamela Sullivan.
The Daniel Adamson boat at Albert Dock will open for the first time inviting audiences on board for a behind the scenes tour and a glimpse into the past of this unique vessel.
Western Approaches, a 1940s nerve centre of wartime Britain will be opened up with ‘Impropriety’s Journey to the Unknown’ 30-minute theatrical and comedic tours.
New Liverpool arts space Northern Lights will open artist studios late and stage the LJMU candle-lit labyrinth, live music, workshops and much more.
In addition to the new venues opening on the night, there will be the usual vibrant mix of street drumming, theatre, puppetry and music along with light art installations at Metropolitan Cathedral, Victoria Gallery & Museum and FACT.
For the intellectually curious there will be a talk on time by a master horologist at Liverpool Medical Institute, and a talk and panel discussion on the philosophy of time at Liverpool Town Hall by Dr Michelle Bastian.
Both cathedrals will open their doors to music; with a mass singing workshop by Tracey Carmen and DJ Greg Wilson at Liverpool Cathedral and a special commemorative light art performance by Andy McKeown in collaboration with the cathedral choir resulting in a profound and breathtaking collision of old and new.
The night comes to an end with the LightNight after party at Constellations, a future-Polaroid / AV installation meets club project, presented by artist Sam Wiehl and soundtracked by Andy Votel (Finders Keepers). Tickets available at www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk/
The full line up is available at www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk
The printed LightNight Festival Guide is on sale now for £3 and features full listings, a cultural diary for the rest of the year and in depth articles about the commissions and other cultural events taking place this year. The LightNight Guide has been produced in collaboration with local publisher Wordscapes.
Order online at www.lightnightliverpool.co.uk. Guides will be available to buy from Bluecoat, Blackburne House, News from Nowhere, FACT, Liverpool Cathedral, Homebaked, Unity Theatre, Baltic Social, Furrow, dot-art Gallery, Baltic Bakehouse, Bluecoat Display Centre, Victoria Gallery & Museum, St George’s Hall, Baltic Creative, British Music Experience, Northern Lights, Albert Dock Tourist Information, Liverpool Central Library, HUS and Black Lodge Brewery.
LightNight is funded by Arts Council England, and Liverpool City Council.
Liverpool John Moores University is Principal Sponsor
Liverpool City Central BID and Commercial District BID also sponsor the event.