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| The greatest light show on Earth heralds Blackpool’s rebirth | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Like many of the UK’s coastal towns, Blackpool has its fair share of challenges, with widespread poverty, a seasonal economy and a highly transient population. | Like many of the UK’s coastal towns, Blackpool has its fair share of challenges, with widespread poverty, a seasonal economy and a highly transient population. |
| Like other coastal towns, it has turned to the arts in search of hope and prosperity. On the other side of the Pennines, Hull is set to become the UK City of Culture in 2017 and in Blackpool, in the next weeks, you will be as likely to run across a Yoko Ono artefact as a “kiss me quick” hat. | Like other coastal towns, it has turned to the arts in search of hope and prosperity. On the other side of the Pennines, Hull is set to become the UK City of Culture in 2017 and in Blackpool, in the next weeks, you will be as likely to run across a Yoko Ono artefact as a “kiss me quick” hat. |
| Blackpool council, alongside LeftCoast and Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme, which has the task of increasing arts engagement, have set about reinventing what the seaside experience means and how to match local needs with visitor expectations. | Blackpool council, alongside LeftCoast and Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme, which has the task of increasing arts engagement, have set about reinventing what the seaside experience means and how to match local needs with visitor expectations. |
| Now in its 137th year, Blackpool Illuminations has long been billed as the greatest free light show on Earth, spanning a whopping six miles of coastline. A trip to the lights is part of northern folklore and it’s the single most important event in the town’s calendar, contributing an estimated £200m to the local economy. This year, the new LightPool festival will refresh tradition and reinvigorate the lights for the future, using arts as the driver. | Now in its 137th year, Blackpool Illuminations has long been billed as the greatest free light show on Earth, spanning a whopping six miles of coastline. A trip to the lights is part of northern folklore and it’s the single most important event in the town’s calendar, contributing an estimated £200m to the local economy. This year, the new LightPool festival will refresh tradition and reinvigorate the lights for the future, using arts as the driver. |
| It’s an ambitious transformation led by Blackpool-born producer Mykey Young and Manchester-based creative lead Alex Rinsler. The festival kicks off on Friday with “Captain Kronos: Return to Planet Earth”, a visual spectacle of a time-travelling hero arriving in a spacecraft flying through Blackpool’s night sky. Sure to be a dramatic curtain-raiser, the show hints at the other-worldly experience to come… Aiming to attract more visitors into town during what is already the busiest week of the year, the festival hopes to seduce local people, too. Bob and Roberta Smith’s artwork Art Is Your Human Right particularly resonates in a town where 30% of children are living in poverty. Artistic aspirations are being driven high and culture is a priority in regeneration plans. | It’s an ambitious transformation led by Blackpool-born producer Mykey Young and Manchester-based creative lead Alex Rinsler. The festival kicks off on Friday with “Captain Kronos: Return to Planet Earth”, a visual spectacle of a time-travelling hero arriving in a spacecraft flying through Blackpool’s night sky. Sure to be a dramatic curtain-raiser, the show hints at the other-worldly experience to come… Aiming to attract more visitors into town during what is already the busiest week of the year, the festival hopes to seduce local people, too. Bob and Roberta Smith’s artwork Art Is Your Human Right particularly resonates in a town where 30% of children are living in poverty. Artistic aspirations are being driven high and culture is a priority in regeneration plans. |
| On the promenade at LeftCoast’s under-construction Art B&B, the windows will be adorned with Ron Haselden’s Brothers and Sisters, including three new works by children at Revoe primary school, which sits off the tourist trail in one of the more deprived areas of town. The performance programme doesn’t forget about the next generation of artists either, with students from Blackpool and the Fylde College’s School of Creative Arts taking part. | On the promenade at LeftCoast’s under-construction Art B&B, the windows will be adorned with Ron Haselden’s Brothers and Sisters, including three new works by children at Revoe primary school, which sits off the tourist trail in one of the more deprived areas of town. The performance programme doesn’t forget about the next generation of artists either, with students from Blackpool and the Fylde College’s School of Creative Arts taking part. |
| Throughout the festival, an illuminated trail will guide visitors around the town centre and promenade, taking them to some familiar locations and those that might be a little more unexpected. In stark contrast to the usual Blackpool experience of visiting the Tower Circus, Goodbye Coco, by Michael Trainor, invites you inside the old Jesuit chapel at Sacred Heart church to attend the funeral of a fictional clown, complete with illuminated coffin. | Throughout the festival, an illuminated trail will guide visitors around the town centre and promenade, taking them to some familiar locations and those that might be a little more unexpected. In stark contrast to the usual Blackpool experience of visiting the Tower Circus, Goodbye Coco, by Michael Trainor, invites you inside the old Jesuit chapel at Sacred Heart church to attend the funeral of a fictional clown, complete with illuminated coffin. |
| For a local, LightPool underlines the wider change taking place across the town, with arts and culture at the centre of plans for a reimagined Blackpool. Walking around, one can sense the hope – as if a change is happening before our very eyes. | For a local, LightPool underlines the wider change taking place across the town, with arts and culture at the centre of plans for a reimagined Blackpool. Walking around, one can sense the hope – as if a change is happening before our very eyes. |
| Blackpool is also becoming a producer of art, hinting at a new economic input, with Abingdon Studios, Blott and the Old Rock Factory providing a home for visual artists to create their work just a stone’s throw from the promenade. Festivals also abound, with the Winter Gardens film festival celebrating black-and-white cinema, Other Worlds providing an annual dose of experimental music and sound art and Sand, Sea & Spray attracting international urban artists dressing, as is now becoming the way, the town’s buildings with art. | Blackpool is also becoming a producer of art, hinting at a new economic input, with Abingdon Studios, Blott and the Old Rock Factory providing a home for visual artists to create their work just a stone’s throw from the promenade. Festivals also abound, with the Winter Gardens film festival celebrating black-and-white cinema, Other Worlds providing an annual dose of experimental music and sound art and Sand, Sea & Spray attracting international urban artists dressing, as is now becoming the way, the town’s buildings with art. |
| Duncan Hodgson is editor in chief of alt Blackpool. LightPool runs in Blackpool from this Friday to next Wednesday | Duncan Hodgson is editor in chief of alt Blackpool. LightPool runs in Blackpool from this Friday to next Wednesday |