Open air festival to close ‘A Month of Brilliance’ sessions

A mini festival of local music stars will bring a month of family friendly Illuminations inspired arts events to a close.

Throughout October, live arts performances underneath the Brilliance arches on Birley Street have been enticing Illuminations visitors in to the town centre as part of LightPool.

And a special festival, ‘The Brilliance Sessions’ hosted by Blackpool singer-songwriter James Edgar, will bring the annual festival to a spectacular finale on Friday 30 October.

On Friday, seven local musicians and vocalists will take over the street between 3pm and 7pm, including: Louise Spiteri, April Keen, Nick Evans, Leoni Jane Kennedy, Stacey McClean, Ash Parkinson and James Edgar.

Brilliance Sessions is free to attend and people can enjoy the performances simply by turning up on Birley Street.

The running order of top artists includes a number of Fylde coast success stories.

The evening’s host James Edgar is Blackpool born and bred but has recently been booked as part of an industry showcase in London due his growing recognition, while he also proved a hit at this year’s Illuminations Switch On concert.

On the same bill is Ash Parkinson while former top ten artist Stacey McLean, will also tread the boards back in her hometown.

Other artists performing include 15 year old singer songwriter Leoni Jane Kennedy, as well as Nick Evans, an acoustic singer from Lytham, and 18 year old solo artist April Keen.

The festival will bring the LightPool performances as part of ‘A Month of Brilliance’ to an end for the year. The shows have seen a variety of family friendly events, including bicycle ballets, Cirque Bijou’s umbrella parades and the Spark! illuminated drummers performing at Brilliance and around the town centre, while crowds have flocked to watch the daily projection shows on the The Blackpool Tower.

The events have all been part of this year’s LightPool project, funded by the Coastal Communities Fund, Blackpool Council and LeftCoast, to boost Illuminations visitors and increase spend in the town centre.

Michael Trainor, Artistic Director of LeftCoast, said: “A Month of Brilliance has been a huge success with a wide variety of high quality performance and installation based events taking place in the town.”

“This final evening made up of live music acts is the first time Brilliance has been used in this way and will round off the month. It gives people a great excuse to come out with family and friends and celebrate all things brilliant about Blackpool’s world famous illuminations.”

While the Brilliance events may come to a close, the Illuminations will continue to shine until the 8 November and a new and updated projection show will take place on the Tower building until the Illuminations switch off.

Families will also be able to make the most of the interactive studio on the Comedy Carpet, which allows people to project their faces on to the front of The Blackpool Tower building between projection shows.

The special light installation, Sensory Systems, at Grundy Art Gallery will also stay open until 8 November.

Tower Projection

Shows will be projected every half hour on evenings during October half term. The full list of Tower projection show times can be found at www.visitblackpool.com/illuminations.

One of the most popular features is the LightPool i-studio that gives people a chance to be part of the Illuminations with their image projected onto the Tower building. The i-studio is open every night costing £2 per person.

Month of Brilliance

Throughout October, Birley Street has come alive at night with LeftCoast commissions of spectacular art performances. These have included circus performers, poets, dancers, umbrellas and much more take over Birley Street.

Grundy Art Gallery

As part of the LightPool project, the gallery presents ‘Sensory Systems’, a substantial new exhibition bringing together works by internationally acclaimed artists interested in the technology and science of light and how this can be deployed and shaped to affect our perceptual experience of space.

For the half–term holiday there are a range of activities taking place with everything from digital mapping lessons for youngsters to puppet making.

Next Saturday 31 October artist Mike Chavez Dawson will also host an illuminated performance spectacular in the gallery, playfully drawing out themes from the ‘Sensory Systems’ exhibition with actors wearing costumes that light up designed by Coronation Street designer Tracey Cliffe. Performances will take place at 3pm and 6pm, lasting 20 minutes, with tickets available on the door for £4.