Events & Offers 2026 - Open Call
In February 2026 Birmingham Light Festival returns, and you’re invited to be part of it.
What is Birmingham Light Festival?
Birmingham Light Festival is an annual multi-day event that brings the city-centre to life at night through transforming Birmingham’s city core into an extraordinary gallery of illuminated artworks.
Birmingham Light Festival is a City Curator project and is being produced by OPUS. Taking place from 12 - 15 February in order to generate a footfall and trading boost for businesses in the challenging post-Christmas winter months.
Birmingham Light Festival encourages Birmingham residents and visitors to explore and experience the city in a different light.
You can find out more about our first edition (2025) festival here.
For 2026, we are anticipating having up to 15 artworks on display across the city centre. Most of these will be temporary interventions but 3 of these will be last year’s legacy commissions that have remained in situ. 1 will be a new legacy commission.
Building on the success of last year, there will also be an accompanying programme of events and activities and it is through this that we are inviting wider businesses, culture and hospitality organisations to be part of the event.
Key Principles
To understand a bit more about our work, and whether being part of the programme is likely to be a good fit for you, please do have a read of our key principles. These are the principles that guide our work:
PLACE:
We will connect audiences with the city in a positive, creative and playful way through light art that makes connections with Birmingham; it’s heritage, it’s USPs and it’s people
ECONOMIC:
A festival designed to encourage curiosity and creativity but with driving footfall and increasing spend in local businesses at the centre of the proposition
COLLABORATIVE:
A festival with collaboration at it’s heart, with City Centre BIDS uniting alongside both private and public partners to deliver an exciting event for the city
ACTIVE:
Artworks will all be within walking distance of one another, showcasing Birmingham as a walkable city and encouraging visitors to actively explore the city-centre
SOCIAL:
Some artworks will be participatory, encouraging social experience - enhancing community cohesion and human connection
SAFE:
We will use the first year of the festival to explore how we can improve perceptions of safety through light
INCLUSIVE:
Light art is accessible to all and resonates with a wider audience, and in taking this art to the streets of city centre we remove many of the barriers that exist with traditional art forms
SUSTAINABLE:
Working in an environmentally sustainable way across all areas of the festival, including using sustainability as a criteria for future commissions
LEGACY:
Each year we will aim to work with partners to ensure that at least one of the light art commissions remains in place as a longer-term installation, brightening and enhancing city spaces more permanently over time
Who can be part of it?
We are inviting expressions of interest from organisations who are interested in programming in response to Birmingham Light Festival. By that we mean, planning and delivering an event or offer that responds in some way to the theme of light.
What could that look like?
A local art gallery and might want to organise a late event themed around light.
A local creative organisation might programme a family craft workshop focused on neon light.
A local business with a city-centre base might use this opportunity to temporarily light their building differently.
A local restaurant might deliver an exclusive candle-lit dining experience.
A local bar might put in a special drinks menu inspired by light.
A local leisure facility may host candle-lit yoga (or similar) sessions.
A local academic institution hosting a workshop or talk about light.
Those are just examples (not an exhaustive list).
Why be part of it?
Birmingham Light Festival 2025:
Increased city centre footfall by 71%
Secured 182 items of press coverage - 713,088,464 opportunities to see
On Instagram alone we amassed over 2 million profile views
We’re inviting local organisations to be part of the programme that will be listed on our website so that our investment in Birmingham Light Festival can also help you reach new audiences and customers. For 2026 it is still completely free to be involved in this way.
It’s important to note that at the heart of this free city-centre-wide festival is collaboration and a desire to drive footfall and trading benefits for local businesses. In many cities this kind of event is delivered with the support of significant public funding. Birmingham’s financial position, as we all know, is challenging so we’re bringing the city together in a different way to deliver and to fund this major city event.
You might want to be part of it because you want to reach new audiences or you might simply want to join us in our mission to stage a fantastic event in Birmingham in the cold and dark winter month of February.
Criteria
To submit an event or activity you’ll need to meet a couple of simple criteria:
Your event or offer must take place in one or more of the following locations:
Colmore BID / Central BID / Southside BID/ Westside BID / Jewellery Quarter BID or Edgbaston Village.
You don’t need to be a BID levy paying business to submit.
Your event must take place on 12, 13, 14 or 15 February 2026.
The majority of the programme will be in the evening (between the hours of 6pm and 10pm) but we are open to events that take place in the twilight hours - just before the festival begins. We will not be promoting daytime events this year.
Your event / activity promotion must respond to the theme of light.
You may also want to respond in someway to the theme of love (with the festival encompassing Valentines weekend).
You must be willing to badge your event / activity / promotion with the Birmingham Light Festival branding (using our brand guidelines) if your event is accepted into the official programme.
You must be comfortable not promoting the event/activity until the festival programme has gone live on our website on 13 Jan.
How will it work?
At this stage we’re simply asking for expressions of interest. Complete our simple survey to tell us who you are, what your event or offer will be and how we can contact you.
Then, if it feels like a good fit for the festival, we’ll be in touch so you can submit the final details we need in order to promote the event.
If you are confirmed as part of the official programme we will share our logo and brand guidelines with you so you can badge your activity accordingly.
All events and offers will need to be embargoed until the programme launch on 13 Jan. We’ll ask you to make your event ‘live’ on the 12 Jan for website testing, in readiness for the launch.
We’ll then list your activity on the Birmingham Light Festival website. The programme will also be promoted on social media and via PR.
Timeline
• Expressions of Interest Open:
29 October 2025
• Expressions of Interest Close:
21 November 2025
• Decisions taken and invitations to submit final details will be issued:
25 November 2025
• Deadline for final details to be submitted & Programme Finalised:
15 December 2025
• Programme Announcement:
13 Jan 2026
• Light Festival:
12 - 15 Feb 2026
What next?
Submit your EOI below.
If you have any question about the process, please contact us: hello@birminghamlightfestival.co.uk