The Proposal of a Contemporary Festival of Lighting based Artworks for Morecambe CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONS POTENTIAL ARTISTS AND ARTWORKS Morecambe 4 Artists for Commission 33 The History of Morecambe’s Illuminations 6 Artworks for Hire 32 Claire Norcross 8 Working with Local Artists 35 PROJECT PROPOSAL Budgets and Funding 38 Aims 14 Audience 15 Conclusion 40 Timescale 18 Project Team and Roles 16 CASE STUDIES AND RESEARCH Promotion and Media 17 Radiance, Glasgow 46 Environmental Considerations and Sustainability xx Glow, Newcastle 52 Festival of Light, Blackpool 53 PROPOSED SITES AND COMMISSIONS Enlightenment, Durham 54 Area Map 20 Lumiere, Durham 55 Midland Hotel 22 Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall, Carlisle 58 Winter Gardens 24 Illuminating York 60 Euston Road 26 Notes from meetings with Artists 62 Bridge of Sighs’ 28 Freemasons Hall 29 Community Project xx Other possible Sites 30 NTERIM PROJECTS Christmas Lights 36 Drive-In Movie 37 MORECAMBE orecambe is a northern seaside resort within Traditionally the workers in the factories of west Yorkshire Lancaster City Council have a current program of cultural the district of Lancaster, with views across provided much of the visitor numbers during their summer events for both the visitor and the local community of M Morecambe Bay to the Lake District fells. In 1889 ‘wakes weeks’. However with the mills closing down and the Morecambe. These include: XLIZMPPEKIWSJ&EVI4SYPXSRPI7ERHW XLISPH½WLMRKZMPPEKI advent of increasingly cheap package holidays abroad, from ‘We do like to be beside the Sea’ a celebration of which was mentioned in the Domesday book) and the 1960s onwards Morecambe began to lose much of its all the traditional fun and entertainment to be had at the Torrisholme collectively became known as Morecambe. seasonal revenue. Today the town has an estimated population of 45,000 seaside (2003 census). Yet visitor numbers have risen greatly in recent years, The Sandcastle Festival where professional sand QMPPMSRZMWMXSVWMR 78)%1½KYVIW QEMRP]HYI sculptors create incredible displays of their skill along the Morecambe Bay is an area of 195 square miles, with 120 to the award winning Tern Project. The Tern Project was promenade. There is also a competition open to amateurs, square miles of sands exposed at extreme low tides. It is major programme of public art which was woven into families and children. Other entertainment including music the largest continuous intertidal area in Britain and the the reconstruction of the coastal defences along and games also support the event. third most important estuary in Europe in terms of bird life 1SVIGEQFI´W½ZIQMPIPSRKTVSQIREHI1YGLSJXLIEVX supported. National and international designations protect works are centred around the birdlife in the bay and includes There are additional events which are funded by the City the Bay, all recognising and emphasising the Bay’s importance. the ‘Flock of Words’ poem path, with games and puzzles, and Morecambe Town Council. These include: patterns and textures set into the promenade, as well as Tutti-Frutti, run by a volunteer committee and held Morecambe’s motto of ‘Beauty Surrounds, Health Abounds’ sculptures, street furniture and the Eric Morecambe statue. annually in July this 1950’s seaside festival islargely centred VI¾IGXIHMXWTVSYHLMWXSV]EWEXLVMZMRKWIEWMHIVIWSVXJVSQ www.tern.org.uk the 1900s until the 1960s, attracting many holiday visitors around the music of the era with the event hosting bands during the evening at the Platform as well as daytime from Yorkshire and Scotland. Morecambe has a proud place The regeneration of the Midland Hotel has also played a activities such as a dance troup, stalls, traditional fairground in the history of English entertainment, with many famous key part in the attraction of new visitors. As Morecambe’s rides and vintage cars names such as Arthur Askey, Gracie Fields and George White Hope, (the title of the book by Barry Guise and Formby performing at the Winter Gardens. Between 1956 Pam Brook) this iconic modernist landmark was re-opened The Catch the Wind Kite Festival, held annually in June and 1989 it was the home of the ‘Miss Great Britain’ beauty by Urban Splash in 2008 as a luxury boutique hotel, it and organised by More Music. It is a spectacular display of GSRXIWXERHQYGLSJXLI½PQ³8LI)RXIVXEMRIV´WXEVVMRK has since encouraged investment from local and national kites as well as live music, art workshops and entertainment 7MV0EYVIRGI3PMZMIVERH(EQI8LSVE,MVH[EW½PQIHMR retail companies, such as Costa Coffee, Jo and Cass The Lantern Festival held annually in December by More Morecambe and features some of the prominent buildings (Lancaster Hair Salon) and The Palatine Pub owned by Music which hosts workshops with schools to make the such as the Winter Gardens and Alhambra. the Lancaster, Brewery. lanterns and a festival parade through the West End which Eric Morecambe (Bartholomew) did much to place the encourages participation from the local residents town on the map by taking its name as his surname and creating one half of the famous comedy duo ‘Morecambe and Wise’. Their popularity has been forever immortalised in the Eric Morecambe statue, a key visitor attraction on the central promenade. 4 5 THE HISTORY he traditional Illuminations were an important In 1938 the Illuminations Tableaux was set out in the bay, In 1967 the Town Hall became the main focus for the However this was short lived and the Council were once feature in the social calendar of this seaside resort a technical masterpiece yet to be repeated. In 1939 the -PPYQMREXMSRWERHXLIFYMPHMRK[EW¾SSHIH[MXLGSPSYV again left considering the future of the event. Surprisingly T and Morecambrians are very proud to tell you that Illuminations were only switched on for 4 days when World high-lighting all the doors and windows. This was supported the event continued for another 18 years, with a brief they had the Illuminations before Blackpool. The earliest War II broke out and they were switched off for ten years. by the homes and businesses illuminating their properties, upturn from the Mayors ‘Illuminations Appeal Fund’ of mention of the Illuminations was in the 1850s when glass by hiring the lighting equipment at a nominal cost from £7,000,000 in 1982. Yet by the early 1990’s the tourism jars festooned the streets to celebrate the opening of the In 1949 the Illuminations, as we now remember them, were XLI'SYRGMP8LI¾SVEPHMWTPE]WMRXLIXS[RERHSRXLI budget was again running low and the £140k provided for 2SVXL;IWXIVR,SXIP XLI½VWXLSXIPSRXLIWMXISJXLI switched on in late summer. They were vital to extending the TVSQIREHI[IVIEPPXMQIHJSVEYXYQR¾S[IVMRKERHHS[R the Illuminations was uncomparable with that of Blackpool’s current Midland Hotel). Other early reports tell of chinese WYQQIVWIEWSRERHFIGEQIEWMKRM½GERXWSYVGISJVIZIRYI lighting them added to the visual display. From the 1970s budget of £2.25m. Substantial investment was needed to lantern illuminations along the central promenade in 1919, for the town. The ‘Switch On’ was always done by a popular a newspaper to accompany the event was produced. This install new columns on the promenade to support the lights, again these were glass jars lit with candles and local boys celebrity of the time and the event was always well attended. provided the visitor with facts about the Illuminations, which had previously been strung from each lampost and were paid to light them, a penny for every 12 lights. Electrical reports of the activities and events, As well as providing this investment was seen as too greater cost. The electrical -PPYQMREXMSRW[IVI½VWXMRWXEPPIHJSVXLI4IEGIGIPIFVEXMSRW The council employed a team of people year round advertising space for local hotels, restaurants and companies, supply to Happy Mount Park, had not been updated since after World War I. dedicated solely to the illuminations. including the offers they had during the season. ERHXLMW½REPP]I\TMVIHMRXEOMRKXLI-PPYQMREXMSRW with it. Looking back through the library records of the Happy Mount Park had hosted the tableaux pieces since Illuminations there were some interesting and ambitious the 1930s and in later years the park became the main focus Since 1996 there have been smaller weekend events, such projects undertaken. The minutes of the 1933 Illuminations for the event. They showed animated displays of popular as ‘Light and Water’, held from 2002-2004. This incorporated Committee Meeting state that a Gondola was to be installed characters and the park was fondly remembered as a magical E½VI[SVOHMWTPE][MXLPMKLXERHQYWMGSZIVXLI&E] in the paddling pool, the SS Wyvern was to dock in the and enchanting experience. The park was an ideal location and audience numbers reached 18,000. The Halloween Harbour, the fountains in the West End Gardens were to for the Illuminations as they were able to police the gates Illuminations events in Happy Mount Park organised by the be illuminated, and lampshades were to be supplied to all and a nominal entrance fee was charged. 4EVOWERH4VSQIREHISJ½GIVWEXXLI'SYRGMPLEWEXXVEGXIH private residencies on the Promenade during the period of 2-3000 visitors on a single night. the Illuminations. The committee maximised the potential by Although this may paint a glowing picture of the taking into consideration the interest of a daytime attraction Illuminations, the success of the event had reached it peak The magic which the Illuminations brought to Morecambe Promenade, as taken from the Midland Hotel looking towards northern end, circa 1970. (in the SS Wyvern), the cost effectiveness and creating a in the 1960s. By 1974 the future of the event was called is fondly remembered by the community and visitors alike. legacy of the festival in the permanent illumination of the into question, budgets were being cut and yet because the Looking back on the Illuminations of yester year has helped fountain and the engaging of the community by illuminating Illuminations were so important to the businesses of the to identify the successful elements in these previous events residencial properties.