We Shine Portsmouth: festival of art and light to return to city in autumn 2024

We Shine Portsmouth, will take place from Thursday to Saturday, November 21-23, and will celebrate and explore creativity, culture, and the communities that light up the city.

The family-friendly event will animate the city with interactive light installations, projections, and performances. Families are invited to immerse themselves in the magic of the event, filling the darker evenings with visual arts, performing arts, and digital experiences.

The We Create market also returns, offering an opportunity to shop from local makers and artists.

The festival, which is put together by Portsmouth Creates, brings together local and national artists, creative organisations, businesses, and community groups to create a breathtaking tapestry of light and art.

The events will take place from 5-9pm each evening, with installations and locations to be announced nearer the time.

Previous years have seen The Moon in St Mary’s Church in Fratton, animals along the side of The Mountbatten Centre, strange creatures in Victoria Park, a lantern parade and much more.

Organisers are also looking to commission artists to develop and exhibit ‘small to mid-scale projects’, where creative use of light is the basis for the idea/project.

The team behind We Shine said in a statement launching the process: “The ‘We Shine Together’ programme is looking to award a limited number of artists with a commissioning opportunity to create and exhibit a new installation or perform new work over 3 evenings as part of the We Shine 2024 festival.

"We are looking to commission projects which are high quality, fun and engaging for visitors. We Shine is a community-oriented festival, produced within the community, for the community.

“We are encouraging applicants to think outside the box and consider various creative uses of light as their project focus. Not limited to projections as we are short of large-scale surfaces across the festival footprint so projection canvases would also need to be considered.

“This could be simple lights, LED’s, neon flex, EL Wire, internally and externally lit sculptures, flood lights, UV/black lights, digital art, fibre optic, shadow play, laser – nothing is out of bounds."

We Shine Portsmouth is created and produced by Portsmouth Creates and supported by their founding partners – Portsmouth City Council, the University of Portsmouth and Victorious Festival.

For more information visit weshineportsmouth.co.uk.