Light Up The North – nurturing artistic ambition
Light up the North (LUTN) is a network of northern light festivals which have come together to share their collective expertise to support both the development of the partner festivals and the wider sector. Through regional, national and international networking and collaboration LUTN nurtures artistic ambition through artist and producer development, co-commissioning and joint fundraising.
The capacity and depth of cultural practice within the network enables LUTN to support emerging artists, explore technical innovations and create aspirational work to deliver a compelling offer for audiences.
Aims
- Support emerging artists and explore ways to co-commission and showcase new work through initiatives such as Light Lab.
- Collaborate to share knowledge and expertise across the cultural sector.
- Develop partnerships with other festivals around the world to help build and share audiences and support artist mobility and development.
- Develop a recognisable festival brand with a reputation for best practice in the North of England
Membership of LUTN
The members have recently confirmed invitations to a handful of organisations with whom they have a practice of collaborating, as part of a pilot to test out, introduce and evaluate offering extended membership, from September 2022 to March 2023.
Full Members now comprise
- Blackpool Council (Illuminations/Lightpool/The Grundy)
- Artichoke/Durham County Council (Durham Lumiere)
- Bradford City Council (BD is #LIT)
- Lancaster City Council (Light Up Lancaster)
- Leeds City Council (Light Night Leeds)
- Oldham Council (Illuminate)
- Quays Culture (Lightwaves)
- Stellar Projects (Nightfall)
- Wigan Council (Light Night Wigan & Leigh)
Associate Members (newly introduced membership)
- Art Reach (Light Up Leicester)
- Barnsley Council (Barnsley Bright Nights)
- Crewe Town Council (Lumen)
- Newcastle Cathedral (new light festival)
- Severn Arts (Light Night Worcester)
- Wakefield Council (Light Up)
“This marks an exciting time of growth for Light Up The North and reflects the ambitious motivation of our partners to innovate and enrich our sector through partnership working. We’re delighted to welcome new partners as part of this pilot and look forward to exploring new territory as we collaborate and embed development in our practice.”
Jennifer Taylor, Chair of Light Up The North
