Calls for Birmingham Light Festival to return in 2026

Colmore Business District (BID) played a central role in Birmingham Light Festival, a spectacular celebration of creativity, community, and culture. Birmingham Light Festival has proven to be hugely popular, with 99% of audiences wanting the festival to return in 2026. 

The inaugural event saw the city-centre transformed into an illuminated, open-air gallery from 19 to 22 February. 11 installations brightened the dark nights with local, national and international artworks popping up in Birmingham’s streets, squares and public spaces.

Birmingham Light Festival drove a city-centre footfall increase of, on average, 71% during the event period (versus the same dates in 2024) with the inaugural event delivering 64,000 visits.

A full programme of over 50 events gave visitors the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the festival, and 74% of audiences surveyed said they travelled to the city-centre specifically to experience Birmingham Light Festival.

The diverse programme of events was brought to festivalgoers with thanks to local organisations uniting behind Birmingham Light Festival to give the city the best possible festival experience. Visitors enjoyed everything from community runs, performances by local musicians and dancers, to craft activities and dining experiences.

City Curator Alex Nicholson-Evans, who also took on the role of Festival Director for Birmingham Light Festival said: “I’m thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response from both audiences and partners to the inaugural event. We have so much to build on and I am confident that the first Birmingham Light Festival has set the bar to establish this as a new hero event for the city.”

Evaluation data paints a very positive picture of the impact of the festival. 97% of visitors felt that Birmingham Light Festival was a good new event for the city. 86% of those surveyed felt safer as a result of the light art installations being in situ, and 85% shared that they felt more connected to the city through the event. 

Michele Wilby, CEO of Colmore BID said: We are thrilled to play such an integral role in the Birmingham Light Festival, a transformative event that lit up the city like we’ve never seen before. Through our funding of the City Curator role, our partnership on the legacy installation and additional investment in the Festival concept – the evaluation data has demonstrated that Colmore BID effectively invests back into the city and in doing so, provides cultural vibrancy and drives economic spend.”

Photo credit: Irine Mackie

Alex continues: “Our data shows us that people expressly chose to visit the city for the festival and whilst they were here, they spent time and money in Birmingham’s fantastic hospitality venues too. Not only is there a clear demand for creative events like this in the city, but there is an economic case for delivering them too.”

Birmingham Light Festival was made possible with thanks to all five city-centre BIDs coming together for the first time (Colmore BID, Central BID, Jewellery Quarter BID, Southside District and Westside BID). The festival was produced by Outdoor Places Unusual Spaces and was brought to life each night by the United by 2022 volunteers. Birmingham Light Festival was part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Three legacy artworks currently remain in situ, illuminated every night as the team seeks to progressively brighten city spaces over time. ‘Alright Bab!’ lives in Colmore Square, ‘Ideas Happen Here’ takes pride of place in Newhall Square, and ‘Roof of Stars’ glitters every night on Thorp Street, outside of Birmingham Hippodrome. 

For more information about Birmingham Light Festival, visit https://www.birminghamlightfestival.co.uk/.