Communities are being placed at the heart of a major festival which is showcasing local and international artists with a renewed focus on instilling civic pride in Yorkshire’s most popular seaside town.
The Scarborough Lights festival, which will run from 15 November to 22 December, will bring spectacular illuminated art installations to the town, showcasing the work of a range of artists from Yorkshire, nationally and abroad.
The lights event, which was staged last year for the first time, will once again aim to attract more visitors to Scarborough during a traditionally quiet time of year for tourism.
Headline events this year include a fire garden in South Cliff Rose Garden, an installation called Reflections at St Mary’s Church and the Aquarium of Light at Scarborough Spa’s Sun Court.
The first edition of Scarborough Lights placed many of the town’s communities at its core, and this year’s event will look to build on the momentum which was created with the inaugural festival.
Organisers have included more local events and partnerships alongside charities and community groups in a bid to engage with as many of Scarborough’s residents as possible.
This year will see a total of 46 community events including residents in 24 streets taking part in the Scarborough Live advent calendar. This is building on the 26 community events which were held in 2023.
The festival’s programme will still include the work of internationally-renowned artists, as well as creative talent from both Scarborough and the wider Yorkshire region.
Our executive member for arts and culture, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “We have always aimed for Scarborough Lights to become one of the highlights on the national arts calendar, and to do this we want to involve as many of the local communities as possible.
“The use of arts and culture is such an important way of engaging with people, and we want everyone in Scarborough and the surrounding area to share in the excitement of bringing such a significant event to the town. I would urge everyone to join in with the community events and also to come along to see such a diverse and impressive range of artworks on display.”
The light festival is one of the showcase events of a three-year cultural project, the Scarborough Fair, which has the aim of engaging with local communities and nurturing a passion in the arts among its key ambitions.
The director of the Scarborough Fair, Julian Caddy, said: “Scarborough Lights is a celebration of the town and the creativity of the people who live and work here. It is a chance to explore and enjoy seeing a place that we love in a whole new light.
“And most of it is completely free - from the illuminated buildings, The Stories under the Stars in The Crescent, the Dino-bouts on Vernon Road and Aquarium Top, the new lights on Eastborough, all the way to the wonderful lighting along Dean Road by the cemetery and everything in between.
“There are also dozens of free workshops for people to get involved in creating many of the artworks that will be on display, too.”
Workshops for this year’s festival are being organised to allow families to take part in one of the main community events, a live advent calendar in Scarborough’s neighbourhoods.
The free workshops are aimed at helping people learn new creative skills while decorating their homes and businesses in the run-up to the festive season.
Other community events include workshops focused on stained glass, the use of illuminations in shadow puppet theatre and a special wizard-themed event.
The Ships Ahoy! event will also return this year as organisers have once again pledged to enhance the illuminations for an annual lights display on vessels in Scarborough’s harbour.
Local artists are being given the opportunity to display their work alongside art from internationally-recognised figures.
Adrian Riley, who has lived in Scarborough for the past 21 years, is among the artists who have been commissioned to create work for this year’s festival. His new installation, which features words from a passage in the Bible focused on light and dark, will be on display in St Mary’s Church.
Adrian, who trained as a graphic designer before embarking on his career as an artist, said: “I love the ambition with an event like Scarborough Lights, and there is a real buzz among the town’s creative community this year. We perhaps don’t shout loud enough about all that Scarborough has to offer, and to have a festival like this is really showing what the town is about.
“Scarborough Lights is being staged at a time of year when not so many people come to visit, but the town has a different feel to it during the autumn and winter which is actually all part of its appeal. I am really looking forward to displaying my new work, and I hope as many people as possible come to see what is on show across Scarborough.”
A total of 33 art installations and events will be staged at venues across the town, including Scarborough Spa, The Crescent and St Mary’s Church - an increase on the 24 events which were held last year.
International artists include Culture Creative, a leading arts company that will be bringing a fire trail to South Cliff Gardens from December 18 to 22. Its previous work has been shown at Blenheim Palace, Hampton Court and Kew Gardens.
French brothers Sebastien and Tom Guillen will also be showing their work at the event, with 10 orbs which make alluring sounds on display next to a light tunnel at the entrance to the Brunswick Centre.
This new artwork, called In Bloom, premiered in Scotland in October and will be on display in England for the first time when it is on show at Scarborough Lights.
The Scarborough Town Board has helped finance the Scarborough Fair programme through the Government’s Towns Deal programme.
The chair of our Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, Cllr Liz Colling, who sits on the Scarborough Town Board, said: “To have such a major event in Scarborough is a wonderful way of showing what the town has to offer.
“We will hopefully have people coming to the festival who would not normally be in the town at this time of year, and I am so pleased that this year’s Scarborough Lights is also being aimed at the people who are so important – the local communities.”
The town board’s chair, David Kerfoot, added: “We recognise how important a project like the Scarborough Fair is, which is bringing visitors to the town while increasing trade and giving communities a real pride in where they live.
“The Scarborough Lights festival is a major part of the fair’s programme, and I am especially pleased to see how this year’s event is due to really engage with the people living in the town.”
Find out more information and buy tickets for Scarborough Lights.