Following its biggest and most ambitious year yet, Bristol Light Festival will return to the city from Thursday 18 - Saturday 27 February 2027*, with the organisers, Bristol BID now officially opening the artist call out for the next edition of the much-loved event.
Returning for its seventh year, Bristol Light Festival has become one of the UK’s leading free light festivals, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors into the city during the winter months and showcasing Bristol’s reputation as a world-leading creative city.
The 2027 festival dates once again coincides with the final weekend of the February half term, giving families and visitors more opportunity to explore the city’s installations at their own pace across the ten-day event.
Applications for artists, designers and creatives from Bristol, across the UK and beyond have opened today, inviting proposals for bold, inspiring and imaginative light-based artworks to transform Bristol after dark. The submission deadline is Monday 8th June 2026 at midday, with shortlisted artists announced during the week commencing Monday 22 June 2026.
.jpg)
In February 2026 Bristol Light Festival welcomed an estimated 200,000 visitors across ten days and generated an economic impact in excess of £11m. The sixth edition of the festival featured ten large-scale installations across the city, including illuminated replica hot air balloons celebrating Bristol’s ballooning heritage, a giant, interactive cat sculpture, an immersive underground artwork in Redcliffe Caves and large-scale projection mapping celebrating Bristol’s electrical history.
Audience feedback from the 2026 festival highlighted the event’s growing impact across the city, with 78% of visitors saying they specifically travelled into Bristol city centre for the festival, a 3% increase from 2025. Almost 50% of visitors also visited local restaurants, bars or shops during their trip. Visitors expressed exceptionally high satisfaction ratings, with 88% rating their experience positively, cementing the festival as a staple in Bristol’s event calendar.
Katherine Jewkes, Creative Director of Bristol Light Festival, said: “Each year Bristol Light Festival continues to grow in ambition, creativity and scale and we’re incredibly excited to begin shaping the 2027 programme. We’re looking for artists and creatives with bold ideas that can transform spaces, surprise audiences and create unforgettable moments across the city. Bristol is such a creatively rich and collaborative place and we can’t wait to see the ideas that emerge for next year’s festival.”
Anna Farthing, Interim Head of Place at Bristol BID, said: “Bristol Light Festival has become a hugely important winter moment, connecting people through creativity, supporting local businesses and encouraging visitors to experience the city in new and unexpected ways. Following a highly successful 2026 festival, we’re excited to see the ideas and suggestions that artists put forward for 2027 as we continue to grow the festival’s ambition, creativity and positive economic impact across the city.”
Artists interested in applying can submit their application via the Bristol Light Festival website: https://bristollightfestival.org/call-for-artists/
*subject to site permissions and licensing
Related
Comments
Comments are disabled for this post.
