Durham to say goodbye to iconic lights festival
Written by Will Jones on 25th November 2025
The iconic lights festival Lumiere is set to end this year. Making its debut in 2009 under the stewardship of London-based creative company Artichoke, the festival has welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors since it began. According to Helen Marriage, artistic director and CEO of public art producers Artichoke, told Radio Newcastle the event was being scrapped because it was no longer “viable”.
This year’s edition featured 30 artworks and artists from 11 countries and since its inception over 250 artists have taken part. This year’s event included 116 local sponsors supporting it and 550 local people engaged through Lumiere Learning and Participation this year.
Local artist, Lewis Hobson, had his work chosen to feature for the first time at this year’s Lumiere. When asked about this, Lewis commented: “I have a background in graffiti and mural art, so because I was working with sculpture it was a very different way of working.
“A Light Still Shines” is about the window grates that are common in the northeastern areas of industry with its coalfields that have experienced lots of deprivation and feel that may have been left behind. I feel that the fact they’re being shown in the affluent Durham city centre highlights the disparity between there and the wider county, for example areas like Horden and Peterlee.
“Going into it, I’m wanting everything to be perfect so next time I’m commissioned as a fully commissioned artist. So obviously I was disappointed when I found it would be the last just before it started. This changed everything – it stopped being about my artwork and was more about the social aspect of things instead”.
Fantastic Night @LumiereDurham #Lumiere2025 pic.twitter.com/SyaJdCgEyk
— Mark Carroll ⚽ (@Mark_Carroll3) November 14, 2025
Cllr Andrew Husband, Leader of Durham County Council, said: “The decision, confirmed in April this year, to pause and review Lumiere offers an exciting opportunity to reimagine light art for the future – engaging with communities and key partners, including Artichoke.
“We, alongside our partners, recognise that a funding strategy is needed for the event going forward. Therefore, it is appropriate that a review be undertaken that also presents an opportunity to reassess our events programme and ensure it remains ambitious, innovative, and fit for the future”.
