Blackpool’s Lightpool Festival is marking its 10th anniversary with 30 artworks set to shine in Lightpool Festival 2026, a free event running from 21 to 31 October. The town’s council and festival organisers are once again turning public space into a curated spectacle, with installations in a light art trail, 3D projection shows and premieres by some of the world’s leading artists. Ten new artworks will be presented this year.
The festival’s own programme makes the politics plain, even if the language tries to soften it. Stanley Park, now in its 100th year, and the Bayeux Tapestry are both being used as centrepieces, with the park’s centenary folded into the event’s visual display. A lightwork by Blackpool School of Art students marks the centenary of Stanley Park and explores ideas of leisure, ownership of space and reconnection. Those are not abstract themes in a town festival. They’re the questions that sit under who gets to use space, who gets to shape it, and who gets to decide what public life looks like.
Public Space, Curated From Above
The festival is free, but it is still managed from above. Blackpool Council is part of the machinery here, and the event is presented as a civic gift, a “cherished moment” in the town’s calendar. Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said the festival was a “cherished moment in Blackpool’s event calendar” and that this year’s programme “is set to be truly special”. That’s the language of local authority branding itself into the street, wrapping control in celebration.
Phil Holmes, the festival’s artistic director, said the event would be “a truly memorable experience that fosters community building and the passion of young, emerging creatives”. The phrase does a lot of work. It casts the festival as community-minded while the structure remains top-down: a council-backed programme, a set route, a set schedule, a set of approved artworks. The public can walk through it. They don’t run it.
Aunty Social, described as a grassroot art organisation, is one of the few parts of the story that points in a different direction. It drew inspiration from the Bayeux Tapestry’s historic return to the UK after nearly 1,000 years in France. Working with local communities and residents through open calls and workshops, Aunty Social created a 10m tapestry depicting the town’s colourful and meaningful history. That’s a more horizontal process than the usual civic pageant. Open calls. Workshops. Residents involved in making the thing, not just consuming it.
Who Gets to Shape the Town
The festival’s 30 artworks include installations, projection shows and premieres, with ten new works added this year. That scale matters. It shows how much institutional effort goes into producing a temporary version of the town, one that is meant to feel inclusive while still being carefully managed by organisers and council leaders.
The Bayeux Tapestry’s return to the UK after nearly 1,000 years in France is used as inspiration, which gives the festival a historical sheen. But the real story sits closer to the ground. Blackpool School of Art students made a lightwork about leisure, ownership of space and reconnection. Aunty Social worked with local communities and residents through open calls and workshops. Those are the only parts of the programme that sound like people making something together rather than being handed a civic experience from the top down.
The festival runs from 21 to 31 October. It is free. It is also a reminder that even public culture gets organised through institutions, councils and artistic directors who decide what counts as community, what counts as heritage, and what gets lit up for the cameras.