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Press Release - January 17th 2018

A Festival of Light

15-17 February 2018, Poole town centre

Enchanting and provocative, Light Up Poole will transform the town centre in the south coast’s first digital light art festival.

Sponsored by Poole BID and funded by Arts Council England, as well as presenting art forms and artworks that are new to Poole, a key element of the festival is the involvement of the community and artists have already been working with local schools on a series of projects. The festival also has anumber of opportunities to get involved by volunteering to help with stewarding, artist support and interacting with visitors – a great way to gain experience of working at a major arts event*.

The diverse programme is designed to challenge the perception of art and provoke visitors to participate and become part of the festival. Using the theme ‘Identity’, as darkness falls Poole’s story will be explored through artists’ eyes using projections, interactive light and sound.

“We’re so thrilled to be involved with the Light Up Poole festival, it’s set to be a fantastic showcase of the creative talent we have locally,” says Jonathan Sibbett, chair of Poole BID. “We hope to build on the success of this and have it become a regular addition to the Poole event timetable. There’s something for everyone over the three days and of course it’s a great start to the fortieth year celebrations for Lighthouse.”

In a festival illuminated by innovation and magic, some of the highlights include:

:: Seeglass. An animated light sculpture made on a custom circuit board by artist Stuart Langley who has worked hundreds of pieces ofage-old sea glass into a form, which is then lit and transformed by designscreated in the Seeglass app. Visitors can create their own designs at seeglasspoole.co.uk which Stuart may incorporate in the final sequence.

:: FLO. A brand new mobile game from the staff of Bournemouth-based games designers Amuzo working as Rogue Games, FLO is being premiered at Light Up Poole where visitors will be able to play the game projected on an outside wall of Lighthouse. A simple yet addictive endless runner, the object of FLO is to travel as far as you can above and below ground. Prizes will be awarded each night for the player that lasts the longest.

:: Film poetry. The art of fusing spoken and printed words, visual images and sound to assert meaning, film poetry celebrates collaboration and has its roots in the avant garde Dada movement of the early 20th century. Working with Artfulscribe, Poole Museum is hosting film poetry workshops aspart of Light Up Poole and film poems will be projected on the Argos building in Falkland Square and screened at Lighthouse in the spring. Entries are also invited for a film poetry competition to be judged by photographic artist Helen Dewberry and poet-film maker Chaucer Cameron with the top three films projected at town centre venues during the festival and the ten shortlisted film shown later in the year at Lighthouse as part of its fortieth anniversary programme. A prize of £500 will be awarded for the winning title.

:: Vloggin’. Light Up Poole is out to discover the vlogstars of tomorrow by working with Bournemouth University and Lighthouse to teach professional video blog-making skills to young people aged 16 to 21. Vloggin’ comprises a weekend of workshops on 27 and 28 January** to learn how to shoot and edit vlogs on accessible technology such as smartphones; develop sound and lighting skills; use video editing apps and improve multi media skills. Participants will then be invited to submit a new vlog to the mentors for assessment with the opportunity to be selected as an official vlogger for Light Up Poole atstake.

:: Sounds of Poole / Arts Conversations. Sounds of Poole is an inspirational music technology project created by the SoundStorm music education agency. Working with sound artist Jon Adams, students have recorded sounds from Poole and created a soundscape album to be played at the Fish Shamblesduring the festival. Jon is also hosting, Arts Conversations is a series ofinformal talks woven around the artworks on show, a chance to savour a cup of something hot and ponder the meaning of light by discussing diversity in art and creative practice.