Longbridge Light Festival
// Fringe Festival Coordinator

June – October 2016 

The 2016 Longbridge Light Festival was part of LPAP - a five year public art programme in the Longbridge area, conceived and setup by Claire Farrell, Director and Curator of WERK in response to the changing nature of Longbridge, a suburb of south-west Birmingham. 

The theme of the festival was the “Shadow Factory”, a historical reference to the nationwide Shadow Scheme developed to aid production for the Second World War. The Longbridge Car Factory was said to have been painted to resemble terraced houses and streetscapes from the air by local artists, and the scheme was led by Lord Austin, founder of the Austin Motor Company. 

Birmingham and internationally based artists presented a dramatic series of spectacular light and art installations across the town centre, alongside family workshops, live music, pop-up art and theatre performances and a ‘festival ‘night-market’, presenting a host of market stalls and award-winning street food, which proved a big hit with visitors. 

My role within the festival was to coordinate the development and delivery of a number of aspects of the festival including the family workshops, pop up music and theatre performances, the community parade created by General Public and the festival market.