Light Up The Town 2027

Light Art festival Light Up The Town returns to West Suffolk in 2027

Marketplace Arts is delighted to announce the community‑led light art festival, Light Up the Town, has been awarded major funding from Suffolk County Council Culture Fund and will return to Brandon, Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Newmarket in January and February 2027.

Marketplace Arts will be commissioning a mixture of new and existing light art from professional artists based in the Suffolk and beyond. Community panels taking place in each town will bring together local residents to shape the events that will take place in 2027.

Over the past two years, Light Up the Town has grown into a much‑loved annual highlight attended by nearly 3000 people. In 2025, the light shows toured across seven towns, where historic buildings were transformed with projection artworks co‑created by local residents with artists SDNA Collective.

In 2026, the project expanded further, as Suffolk artist Henry Driver transformed churches with Water Portals, an interactive video artwork exploring hidden microbial worlds. Alongside this, community workshops, lantern displays and a guided folklore Light Walk brought people of all ages together. 2026 also saw the unveiling of a permanent glow‑in‑the‑dark mural at Brandon Heritage Centre, co‑created with local young people from Teen Chill and the Breckland Astronomical Society members, now a lasting legacy for the town.