Birmingham Light Festival brightened up the dark winter nights for the first time in 2025.
From 6pm–10pm on 19–22 Feb 2025, a series of city centre locations were transformed into a free, spectacular gallery of illuminated artworks for all to enjoy and explore.Encouraging Birmingham residents and visitors to explore and see the city in a different light, installations and artworks will bring the post-Christmas winter nights to life.
Credits
Birmingham Light Festival is a City Curator Project, a role fully funded by Colmore BID. It was established and brought to life for the first time in 2025 with thanks to the full support of all five city-centre BIDs. OPUS are the producers of Birmingham Light Festival. You can read more about the team working on Birmingham Light Festival here.
Origin
All great ideas have to start somewhere, and the seed of the idea of Birmingham Light Festival began to truly grow with the delivery of a test event in March 2024. Alex Nicholson-Evans (City Curator), Outdoor Places Unusual Spaces and Colmore BID joined forces to bring a dazzling mirror ball installation to the city centre. Our Beating Heart popped up in Snow Hill Square between Thursday 21 to Saturday 23 March. This giant heart-shaped mirror ball reflected natural light during the day, and as the sun set, it transformed the space with fantastical dancing lights and an eye-catching wash of colour. Visitors to Our Beating Heart were invited to share their thoughts and that insight informed our thinking and planning of the festival that made its debut in Feburary 2025. You can read more about this part of the Birmingham Light Festival journey here. In 2025 we delivered a successful first festival attracting over 64,000 visits and with thanks for a whole host of fantastic supporters, the festival will return in 2026.