Gainsborough was aglow with a magnificent display of light and sound as the extraordinary Illuminate festival drew in thousands of visitors on Friday 21st February 2025.
Hosted by West Lindsey District Council, Illuminate captivated audiences with dazzling light displays. Beautifully hand-crafted lanterns made by children and community groups during the run up to the event, were on show in our parade as participants showed off their handiwork.
G-town Dance Crew performers dressed up as dragons, wolves, and other winged creatures in costumed they made themselves led by talented artist Ruth Pigott from Curiosity Creators. They danced their way in the procession to the rhythmic tunes of Fire Funk samba band led by Chris Lewis Jones, along with a magnificent stilt walker.
This year the theme was ‘Postcards from Gainsborough’ and thanks to artists from Curiosity Creators, Electric Egg, and Lumo Workshop and choreographer Beth Williams and lead dancer Asher Williams, there was a huge community involvement in the popular event.
More than 20 workshops took place at schools and with community groups across Gainsborough, as well as public workshops at Connexions, X-Church, GAPA, Gainsborough Library and Gainsborough Old Hall.
The evening’s highlight was a wonderful display of local school children’s amazing artworks of postcards created from cyanotypes – an old photography technique. Artists from Electric Egg ran workshops in schools to create postcards portraying children’s letters about Gainsborough. An exhibition of their work and how it was made was beautifully presented within the Old Hall. Children were invited to collect their piece of art and audiences were able to see their efforts projected inside the Great Hall.
This event has been made possible by funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, West Lindsey District Council, Lincolnshire County Council’s National Portfolio Organisation funded by Arts Council England and Gainsborough Town Council.
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