• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Thursday February 24 2022
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Business-backed festival shines a light on Bristol

A trail of light artworks will snake across the centre of Bristol next week as the Bristol Light Festival returns for a second year.

The festival is presented by Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID) working in partnership Redcliffe & Temple BID, Arts Council England, Bristol’s City Centre & High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, which is funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority’s Love our High Streets project and Cabot Circus.

Bristol City Centre BID is backed by 760 levy-paying businesses.

From 5pm to 10pm between March 1 and 6 visitors will be able to follow the trail past the city’s most famous landmarks, including Park Street, Queen Square, St George’s Bristol, Cabot Circus, Castle Bridge, Temple Gardens, College Green, the Harbourside and Millennium Square, where a giant disco ball is one of 14 installations.

Other highlights include Cascade, a ‘waterfall of light’ near Castle Park; Exponential, a seemingly-floating, kaleidoscopic mirrored cube, at Cabot Circus; End Over End, a giant slinky at v near the harbour; and Neighbours at the bottom of Park Street, where a series of new windows are projected to surround Banksy’s spray-painted Well Hung Lover.

Vicky Lee, head of Bristol City Centre BID, said: “We are delighted to bring Bristol Light Festival back to the city this year and hope it will be a marker of change to brighter times ahead.

“The Festival is a key part of the recovery programme to help support businesses back to full strength after the challenging last two years, by encouraging people to explore and spend leisure time in the city centre.”

More information and a map of the installations can be found at https://bristolcitycentrebid.co.uk/project/bristol-light-festival/