Countdown to the the New Year in Auckland

AUCKLAND will be the first major city in the world to welcome in 2019, and is planning a visual and entertainment extravaganza to light up Auckland’s cityscape this New Year’s Eve. 

For the first time, Vector Lights on #Auckland Harbour Bridge will join the celebrations with a sparkling display from 9pm, before building up to a countdown to midnight where it will pulse in time with the Auckland Sky Tower.

At the stroke of midnight, Vector Lights will explode into a five-minute spectacular designed to complement SKYCITY’s fireworks display, then continue until 1am. Those lucky enough to be down at Silo Park for the Wondergarden Festival will have a perfect view of the bridge and the fireworks alongside world-class international and local acts.

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The NightGarden

THE first ever NightGarden makes its debut this holiday season to transform Miami's Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden into an illuminated wonderland at night. Locals, visitors and guests of all ages can journey through spectacular lighting displays, awe-inspiring special effects, motion-sensing technology, illuminated mazes, state-of-the-art outdoor holograms, sculptures and more unbelievable surprises around every corner. The experience opens to the public on Nov. 23 and runs through Jan. 6, 2019.

The captivating experience will span 23 acres at Fairchild, featuring a collection of highly-interactive landscapes augmented by spectacular 360-degree lighting, illusions and special effects. Highlights of The NightGarden include talking trees, illuminated mazes, engaging scavenger hunts, a whimsical fairyland and growing dandelion field, among other supernatural surprises.



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Shining brighter than ever

VIVID Sydney has kicked off its 10th-anniversary celebrations in style, with more than 330,000 Vivid Light Walk attendees turning out for the opening weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) of the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas. 

Weekends are by far the busiest time to see the lights and people are reminded that from tonight through until Sunday night there will be a one-way walking route in place on the Light Walk, so it’s important to plan ahead and be patient. 

Since launching the 2018 festival program, VividSydney.com has had more than a million visitors, the app has been downloaded almost 30,000 times and visitors are spreading the joy on social media. More than 13,000 people have already used the VividSydney hashtag and over 10,000 have shared incredible images and videos from the festival across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

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Picture Credit: Gunn Shots Vivid Sydney  via photopin

Lighting up the night

WILD and exotic times ahead, when the lights go on at two of Vivid Sydney’s favourite precincts, Taronga Zoo and The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Taronga Zoo will shine a bold and bright spotlight on conservation and endangered wildlife with a family-friendly, spectacular display of giant animal light sculptures. As the Zoo’s permanent residents retire for the evening, Lights for the Wild will introduce visitors to fierce and friendly creatures, and take them on a colourful journey through fragile habitats — from the ocean, to the jungle and the Australian bush.

www.vividsydney.com

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All lit up . . .

WITH less than ten weeks until Queenstown’s award-winning light festival illuminates the night sky, the countdown is officially on. The LUMA Southern Light Project returns to Queenstown, #NewZealand on the Queen’s Birthday Weekend (June 1 – 4) featuring a world light festival ‘first’ with four evenings of illuminated art, light sculptures and entertainment. 

The free public event focuses on the transformation of space, public interaction, art, culture and education, made possible by curated collections of stunning light sculptures and thought-provoking installations. Visitors can expect to be dazzled by an array of interactive and unique light displays, each one designed to encourage them to engage with the art and the surrounding Queenstown landscape. 

Set within the picturesque Queenstown Gardens and waterfront, visitors can explore the illuminated winter wonderland with hot food in hand warming their fingers, as the art captivates their minds. The ‘world festival first’ will see local and international artists collaborating on an instillation using over 90,000 individual light sources to turn trees in the Queenstown Gardens into an enchanted forest.

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Shining a light on Uluru

ARTIST Bruce Munro’s immersive installation, Field of Light Uluru has been extended for a further period and will now remain in place until 31 December 2020. The award-winning exhibition, located at #AyersRock Resort in the spiritual heart of #Australia, opened on 1 April 2016 to critical acclaim, and has since exceeded all expectations proving to be a stand-out drawcard to the destination.

The exhibition, aptly named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku or ‘looking at lots of beautiful lights’ in local Pitjantjatjara, is Munro’s largest work to date, with more than 50,000 slender stems crowned with radiant frosted-glass spheres over an area the size of nine football fields. It is also the artist’s first work to be illuminated entirely through solar power. The spheres, connected via illuminated optical fibre, bloom as darkness falls. Pathways draw viewers into the artwork, which comes to life under a sky brilliant with stars.

The award-winning exhibition has received extensive media attention during its two seasons, significantly featuring in 2017’s Qantas Safety Video with over 90 million views worldwide.

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Picture Credit: Pintrest

Lighting up London in 2018

ONE of the most spectacular free events to ever take place in the capital, #Lumiere was created by Artichoke in Durham in 2009, and took place again in 2011, 2013 and 2015, commissioned by Durham County Council.as In 2013, Artichoke produced Lumierein Derry~Londonderry UK City of Culture. In January 2016, the company staged the first Lumiere #London, supported by the Mayor of London, attracting audiences of over 1 million over four nights Lumiere returns to London in January 2018.

Newly revealed artworks coming to London for the UK’s largest light festival include:

• Interactive illuminated singing see-saws in South Molton Street in Mayfair
• An immersive work that imagines a world under water at King’s Cross 
• A meditation on time from the Industrial Revolution to the present day projected onto the iconic Hotel Café Royal building on Regent Street
• Flamingos flying through Chinatown London 
• A triptych of animated self-portraits in Leake Street 
• Matisse-inspired animation dancing across the facade of the Royal Academy of Arts on Piccadilly

www.visitlondon.com/lumiere

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Lighting up the Borders

LIGHTING the Borders, designated a signature event for Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, will see sites such as Floors Castle, Ayton Castle and Peniel Heugh flooded with blue light for three nights from Friday 1 September to Sunday 3 September.

In addition, 11 of the sites will also host special free and ticketed events over those three days, including music, theatre and living history, celebrating and reflecting on the region’s history, heritage and cultural diversity.

The Scottish Borders Heritage Festival, which runs throughout September and includes over 200 events, is being delivered by Live Borders in partnership with Scottish Borders Council and the Borders Heritage Forum.

A full programme of events, including details of all the sites and events as part of Lighting the Borders can be found online at www.scottishbordersheritage.com

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Shine a light on San Francisco

ILLUMINATE SF Festival of Light, now celebrating it's fourth year, shines a light on 35 dramatic, eco-friendly light art installations accessible by public transport and free for all. 

From Thanksgiving 2016 through New Year’s Day 2017 celebrate the power of light and tour San Francisco’s art installations by a diverse range of local and world renowned light artists. 

“#San Francisco is the apex of technology and culture,” said Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco Travel Association, “It is our hope that visitors not only get to experience the sparkle of The Bay Lights, but the truly vibrant gallery of light that is San Francisco.”

The 39-day celebration offers artist talks, Museum Saturdays, neon light tours and a stargazing party in the Presidio during the longest nights of the year. These free tours, talks and participatory experiences will once again highlight the newest permanent and temporary installations. This, all in addition to the city's crown jewel, Leo Villareal's, The Bay Lights, now permanent and dazzling and best viewed when the sun sets just before 5 p.m. throughout December.

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Picture Credit: Guner Gulyesil <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/76786399@N07/27985971685">Golden Gate</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com

Light up Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM'S 5th annual light festival takes place this year from December 1 until January 22nd. Over 500 submissions from 45 countries were received for this years festival where artwork from over 35 international artists will be exhibited along two routes through the city.

Water Colors, the boat route will be open December 1 - January 22 and tours will be run by several canal companies. The artworks will be lit between 17:00 - 23:00.

Illuminade, the walking route will be open from December 15 - January 8 and will weave its way through 20 light art installations in Weesper and Plantage. The artworks here will be lit between 17:00 and 22:00.

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Picture Credit: nemandzax 134477772@N02/24221904152 Talking Heads, Light Festival in Amsterdam via photopin.com

Award for The Enchanted Forest

THE ENCHANTED FOREST, Perthshire’s sound and light show, has staved off competition from 38 Scottish tourism providers to take home the Tourism & Hospitality Award in the Scottish Rural Awards. 

The show, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary this year, drew more than 62,000 visitors to the Highland Perthshire area in 2015 over a 32-night run, a 33% increase on the previous year.

The event’s impact on the local tourism economy is now expected to be in the region of £2.75 million a year, with more than 50% of all visitors to the event choosing to stay overnight in the area after their visit, and 90% citing the event as their main reason for visiting the area in the autumn.

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Christmas in … Eastbourne

THIS December will see #Eastbourne in Sussex celebrating its 700th #Christmas by turning the Town Hall’s Grade II listed clock tower into a ‘Neon Noel’ historical luminale show.

The first projection of its kind on the south coast entails a light and audio show being projected onto the tower every evening from December 4 through to the 13th.

And Eastbourne’s bandstand will be home to a traditional Christmas market (December 9-13), where shoppers can buy hand-crafted festive gifts.

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Outdoor shows in Blackpool’s LightPool extravaganza

BLACKPOOL’S ‘Brilliance’ arches will play host to a month of outdoor performances and live music throughout October as part of Blackpool Illuminations’ LightPool programme. The arches, based on Birley Street in the town centre, become the centrepiece of 11 different shows over five weekends during the month.  
Throughout October, every Friday and Saturday evening will see a different performance taking place underneath the arches. An outdoor dance performance on bikes, Strictly Night Cycling, will start the events on October 2 and 3.

On October 8, poets will read their literary works out over the arches’ speaker system, as part of National Poetry Day. Aerial acrobatics will returns to #Blackpool on October 9 and 10, with the Wired Aerial Theatre group.

Circus acts and street artists will perform on October 16 and 17, and illuminated umbrella parades will lead people from the Promenade in to Birley Street on October 23 and 24.

The festival of acts will finish with two live music sessions on October 30 and 31.

All of the events will be #free.

Artistic Director of LeftCoast, Michael Trainor, said: ‘What we’re doing is bringing the Illuminations to life, giving people something that is live and happening all around them. We’ve managed to attract some exciting and talented artists to take part – but let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to star in #BlackpoolIlluminations.’

www.visitblackpool.com/lightpool
www.visitblackpool.com/illuminations

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Picture Credit: www.visitblackpool.com

Mountain music

A LAKE DISTRICT mountain and what lies within is to provide the inspiration for a live underground performance by a 44-piece orchestra and a unique light display in September.

#HonisterSlateMine, deep inside the mighty Fleetwith Pike, has been chosen by the award-winning #CobwebOrchestra as one of four subterranean venues across the north of England to host a special underground music and light extravaganza featuring their full-piece orchestra.

The 900-year-old mine will host the third in the series of concerts on September 20, when the music will reflect the qualities of this unique #LakeDistrict location. The other three performances are taking place at York Nuclear Bunker, Cleveland Ironstone Museum, and another location yet to be revealed.

Artist Steve Messam – the man behind the Lake District's popular Paper Bridge – has designed site-specific light installations to complement the recitals.

Co-owner of Honister Slate Mine, Joe Weir, says, ‘The acoustics in the mine are outstanding. We've previously had performances from smaller groups and solo musicians down there, but this is the first time we've done anything on this scale. It's a special place with a unique atmosphere, so we're really looking forward to seeing and hearing what this innovative orchestra comes up with.’

The Cobweb Orchestra is a community-based network of music groups throughout northern England.

www.cobweborchestra.org.uk

The maximum audience size at the slate mine concert is 80. Tickets cost £25 and are available by contacting Honister Slate Mine on 017687 77230.

www.honister.com

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Picture Credit: Honister Pass, Lake District, Cumbria, UK - Diliff by Diliff - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons, www.cobweborchestra.org.uk