Taking place every two years following the theme of love and belonging, Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) is delighted to announce that the second 3-night Love Light Norwich festival is confirmed for 17 to 19 February 2022.

Organised by Norwich BID and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, this highly popular after-dark event makes its return to the streets and iconic buildings of central Norwich. With many artists already confirmed, once again Norwich will play host to beautiful and unique international, national, and local pieces of light art works. In 2020 over 15,000 people wrapped up and headed out to enjoy Norwich at night.

Returning for a second year Norwich BID is thrilled to be working once more with Nicholas Azidis (@nickazidis), Artistic Director of ProjectionTeknik. Based in Melbourne, Nick will present Luminos Pareidolia, a brand-new glittering projection. In 2020 Nick wowed audiences with Love Always Wins which was an incredible, large-scale illusionist projection at Norwich Cathedral. Creating aesthetically beautiful pieces that transform a viewer's perception of their surroundings with a blanket of luminescent designs, his inspiration comes from patterns in nature, machinery, geography, and everyday objects.

Nick Azidis said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be participating in Love Light Norwich once again! Love Light Norwich is a very special festival for me, and I have fallen in love with the city. I'm very excited to be back!”

Closer to home, Amber Lights (@Amberlightsuk) is known for her creative lighting work and interactive light sculptures. She is a Norwich University of the Arts graduate and like Nick Azidis participated in the 2020 festival. For 2022 she will be bringing Out of the Cocoon, a butterfly inspired installation which explores sustainability. This is Amber's first project powered by solar power, something she has desired to do since creating the Seed of Life (as featured at Love Light Norwich, 2020).

Amber Lights said: “I feel very fortunate to be asked to return to Love Light Norwich. I was lucky to take part in the first lighting event held in this historic city and I can proudly say that Norwich is my home from home since studying my BA degree at the Norwich University of the Arts back in 2001.”

As well as light, sound is an integral part of the Love Light Norwich experience and mixing these senses with sculpture the festival will see artist Pif-Paf (@pifpaftheatre) appear at Love Light Norwich for the first time exhibiting The Celestial Sound Cloud. Inspired by galaxies far away, the installation is suspended in mid-air, creating a dance space for audiences beneath, which in turn creates unique music and light sequences.

Pif-Paf commented: “We are so excited to be part of Love Light Norwich, we'll never take for granted the opportunity to get arts and culture out there again after a tough year (or two!). We can't wait for everyone to enjoy, interact and maybe even dance under the magic of the Celestial Sound Cloud.”

Another new artist at Love Light Norwich is Shaun Prickimage, a neurodiverse light artist who creates immersive installations using 2D, 3D, and mixed reality digital graphics. He works with people with a range of visual sensory perceptions in a unique and visionary approach to accessibility and immersive art.

PEACE, LOVE, UNITY & RESPECT is a new installation premiering at Love Light Norwich 2022. Shaun Prickimage will be collaborating with Simon VJ Outlaw (Deaf Rave) and working within the local community of d/Deaf/Usher and hearing people, to create a playful visual and audio laser show.

Shaun said: “I'm super excited to share PEACE, LOVE, UNITY & RESPECT through our DeafPLUR laser installation involving Norwich area community of d/Deaf/Usher plus hearing people alike. A playful & fun laser Visual & Audio show with hand sign words, voice & 90's PLUR inspired graphics are all based on a public call out for submissions.”

The event will also include the return of the popular Love Light City Food Trail which saw high numbers of people stay in Norwich for longer during the festival in 2020 to enjoy a meal out. Creating a big event during the winter low-season will bring more business to hospitality, leisure and retail at a time when people wait with anticipation for something uplifting to do following Christmas. Another reason for this event taking place in February is to address the loneliness that can affect people after the festive season and around Valentine's Day. Now more than ever we all understand the debilitating effect loneliness can have on each other following our experiences with Covid-19.

Stefan Gurney, executive director, Norwich BID said: “We're delighted to bring a beacon of light to Norwich once again with our Love Light Norwich festival- where brilliant artists' stunning works illuminate our City of Stories. However, this festival couldn't happen without funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England so huge thanks go to them. And to our sponsors, supporters and volunteers who also help make this happen.

“After a massively successful festival in 2020, where more than 15,000 people attended, Norwich Business Improvement District is thrilled to bring this unique free event back to the city. Arts and culture are integral to Norwich, and this relatively new festival creates an awe-inspiring attraction during low season supporting our local businesses and encouraging tourism to the City of Stories.”

Hazel Edwards, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, we're delighted to support Norwich Business Improvement District's Love Light Norwich in 2022. Culture has such an important role in making the places in which we live more attractive, not just to tourists, but also to the communities that live there – driving a sense of pride. I hope the festival brings together people, from near and far, to experience what promises to be a magical programme of exciting light installations, performance, projections and much more!”

Duane Dibartolomeo, Grosvenor Fish Bar said: “The festival was a wonderful attraction for the city in 2020, providing not only excitement but also much more footfall which resulted in increased sales for us, and judging from the crowds- for all of the local shops. We desperately need the festival again, after the trying past two years, the festival will not only add fun and entertainment, but also add a sense of normalcy returning to our lives, giving us hope for the future.”

Notes to editors

Download high-res images:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17-5wAIRUhqQTloJhkKYKFn86EESdk3_m?usp=sharing

Short Love Light Norwich teaser film: https://youtu.be/hVWlody7Znc.

See accompanying attached PDF for artist bios and thumbnail images for: Nick Azidis, Amber Lights, Pif-Paf and PrickImage.

For interviews with Stefan Gurney, executive director, Norwich BID contact Melanie Cook: melanie.cook@norwichbid.co.uk.

Website: www.lovelightnorwich.co.uk
Social media:  www.instagram.com/lovelightnorwich/; twitter.com/LightNorwich; www.facebook.com/LoveLightNorwich/
Hashtags: #LoveLightNorwich #NationalLottery #AceSupported #CityofStories
Tag: @ace_southeast @NorwichBIDUK @VisitNorwich

About Love Light Norwich
The inaugural Love Light Norwich festival took place in February 2020 and was visited by over 15,000 people. The festival is brought to Norwich by Norwich Business Improvement District supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

The festival takes place over 3-nights across Norwich (17 – 19 February 2022), is family friendly and free to attend and includes international, national and local artists presenting light art works and performance. Love Light Norwich was created to bring more visitors to Norwich for day/night visits and overnight stays in low season boosting the local economy at the end of winter. It was also created to add to the already vibrant calendar of cultural events in Norwich and raise civic pride.

2020 post festival survey of 457 respondents:

• 65% of the Love Light Norwich respondents lived in Norwich (NR1 to 8 postcodes).
• 35% travelled into Norwich for the festival from outside the NR1 to NR8 postcode areas.
• 83% attended hospitality food and beverage providers and shops during their Love Light Norwich visit.
• The survey asked respondents to provide three words they would use to describe Love Light Norwich. Fun and beautiful dominated, but all of the stand-out words were highly positive (amazing, interesting, exciting, colourful, community, engaging, different). A word had to be mentioned a minimum of three times to be included.
• Respondents were asked 'To what extent do you agree or disagree' and were given a five-point rating from strongly agree to strongly disagree. “It made me proud of Norwich” scored 4.26 and “It enhanced my sense of community in Norwich” scoring 4.01. With “I am more likely to bring visiting friends and relatives to Norwich” - 3.47, “It made me like Norwich more than I did before” 3.39, and “It has made me want to come back to see more of the city”, 3.30.

About Norwich BID
Established in November 2012 the Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) is run for local businesses by local businesses. The BID covers a defined area of Norwich where businesses plan how to improve their trading environment, identifying additional projects and services that develop the city centre and trade. Investment in the BID area aims to enhance and promote the local environment for businesses, employees, customers. The overarching vision is to: Make a clear positive impact on the vitality of our city centre and the success of the businesses within it.

Principle funders
Arts Council England.