Festival details unveiled ahead of opening

A festival set to take over Birmingham city centre has unveiled more of the performances and events on its schedule.

Birmingham's Light Festival takes place from 12-15 February, with 11 artworks to be installed in the city.

Taking place at the Bullring, FORGED will feature performances from local spoken word artist Amerah Saleh, and Insurgent, a progressive metal band from the city, who will perform against the backdrop of a giant flaming organ.

Birmingham-born artists Anna West and Davi Callanan, also known as idontloveyouanymore, will bring their The Matter of the Heart project to Brindleyplace.

The live heartbeats of local people will also feature as part of an installation in Oozells Square, called The Heartbeat.

Artist Jack Quddus, known as NeonCow, will be spreading the love on Lower Temple Street with My Heart Belongs in Birmingham and mural artist Richard O'Gorman will be unveiling this year's legacy piece, Where the Trees Begin, in Edgbaston Village.

A new event for this year's festival, Love on the Line, will invite festivalgoers to Birmingham New Street to write a love letter to the city.

They will be displayed in light on the station concourse throughout the festival.

Visitors will also be able to experience pop-up musical performances from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire students.

Maps are available to download online of the installations across the city, which also includes dog walks, group runs and walking tours.

Festivalgoers heading into the city by tram can also get up to 15% off day tickets for West Midlands Metro in zones 1–4 and zone 1 only, covering the full route from Edgbaston Village to Wolverhampton.

Over at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, visitors can attend Climate Conversations, a special climate change event featuring stalls, talks and activities running alongside festival artwork, Tipping Point.

Festival director Alex Nicholson-Evans said: "This year's programme is packed with some really exciting artworks and events and we're so proud that local artists, performers and organisations have played such a huge part in bringing the festival to life.

"We're counting down the days until we can show everyone what we've collectively put together."

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