Events

Giant Lantern Workshops In Bristol This October Half Term

Lamplighter Arts CIC, creators of Church Road Lantern parade and lead artists for Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade, are running a series of free workshops this October.

10/10/2022

BID Lead
Sabrina Shutter
Email Sabrina Shutter

Lamplighters Arts CIC invites people of all ages to join in and celebrate Bristol’s historical and cultural heritage through a spectacular lantern carnival on Sunday 30 October. Spooky stories steeped in Bristol’s rich history and mythology will come to life with a parade of illuminated giant lanterns starting in Broadmead and finishing on Queens Square.

To help bring these giant lanterns to life, workshops will be held in October at Bristol Old Vic, The Galleries and in Bristol’s Old City. The workshops are aimed at people of all ages and skill levels and include family-friendly half-term dates.

Workshops will allow participants to contribute to the creation of these illuminated spectacles, learning new skills and engaging in conversation about Bristol art, culture, history and nature.

Each lantern has been allocated a team, with participants choosing one lantern to help create and then follow as part of the procession. These include a Ghost Ship based on the Llangdoger Trow, an 8ft tall Bristol giant Patrick Cotter who lived here in the 1700s and bats made from recycled milk bottles.

Lamplighter Arts are also working with Bristol Old Vic, Dip and Fall Back Theatre and dancer Ripton Lindsay on workshops creating a giant processional spider, based on the West African trickster God, Anansi. Participants will make costumes and create a dance to take part in the procession.

Workshops should be booked in advance via the Lamplighters CIC website, with support from the Bristol events platform Yuup.

For those who want to join in from home, the bat lantern workshop will be released via YouTube. Makers can then get their spook on, dress up and bring their bats to carry in the parade.

Book Here

Dee Moxon from The Lamplighters CIC

“We are so excited to create giant, lanterns and celebrate Bristol’s history with a spooky spectacle. We are really looking forward to this being a Bristol community project that brings people together with art and light and introduces Bristol residents to lesser-known stories. We are incredibly grateful for the grant from both Bristol City Council and WECA that will enable us to do this.”

Bump in the Night is another activity under the City Centre and High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority’s Love our High Street project.

The City Centre Culture and Events Grants scheme intends to support projects of different scales and creative forms such as music, visual art, architecture, film, history and heritage across the city centre: events where people can share, celebrate or learn.

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