Lighting Up The District! BD: Is LIT 2025 Programme Announced

Full programme details unveiled for BD: is LIT festival weekend on 7 & 8 November 2025

Bradford district will come to life this autumn, as we celebrate the return of BD: is LIT with an exciting range of local activations for the return of the unmissable biennial light spectacular.

On 7 and 8 November, Bradford’s city centre will host BD: is LIT, a light festival with illuminating sculptures and performance art that celebrate Bradford’s rich cultural heritage and architecture. This year’s festival takes place during Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture

Brought to you by Bradford Council and Bradford 2025, the festival weekend will showcase lots of fun, playful and interactive experiences that will animate the city, designed by local, national and international artists. From bespoke projections to light and sound sculptures, and high energy performances; this free, family-friendly festival offers something for all members of the family.

Some of the incredible experiences and light installations include:

• Monolith, a highlight of the festival, brought to Bradford by Urban Spy, is a large-scale installation that explores our present and future relationship with data and screens, combining light, sound, and context with unprecedented results.
  Monolith questions this new reality and the incessant intrusion into our personal information and space. Have we already reached the point where humans are becoming data? How will we deal with the integration of bodies and devices?
• Worstedopolis, a new generative artwork by Ronan Devlin for BD: is LIT Festival 2025. Projected at large scale onto City Hall, it draws on Bradford’s textile heritage, transforming weaving structures into a perpetually evolving digital light fabric that shifts through colour, geometry, and pattern, connecting the city’s industrial past with its digital future.
• The Blue Morpho Butterfly, one of the rainforest’s most striking inhabitants, can be seen shimmering with iridescent colour as it rests among the trees. Rainforest Butterflies by Anne Bennett recreates this fleeting sight with hundreds of butterflies glowing brightly, shifting from blue to rich turquoise.
• Harmonic Portals by Chris Plant are minimalist, time-based, light and sound sculptures, that explore surface textures and colour harmonies. Come along and listen to the colours, which help you contemplate how our eyes and brains create the continuous colours that we experience in the world around us.
• Emergency Exit Arts are bringing Stitching Light a textile and light installation exploring Bangladeshi women’s migration to the UK. The panels are arranged within a purpose-built 3D structure with soundscape which the audience can walk through and around to immerse themselves in the women’s stories.
• Lighthouse - Part gig, part light show, part apocalyptic rave, Lighthouse is a euphoric new live performance from musician & composer Jez Colborne. Blending original music with projections & movement, Jez explores his own relationship with isolation and the comfort he has found in music and the distant sounds of a siren echoing across the sea. Free, ticketed event, see www.visitbradford.com/bdislit for more information.
• Phenix, by Julien Menzel takes its cue from the mythical creature of its title; this ten-metre Phoenix lights up the night with a call for hope, strength and power in the face of adversity.
• ONYVA studio: Scott Parkin & Andrew J Brown are behind Eternal Ensemble a work of spatial audio and immersive projection, suspending the viewer in the repeated moment of a cellist's performance. Brought to life over four screens, Eternal Ensemble brings a joyful and highly personal experience to a shared arena. between cellist and listener, creating a moment of joy that feels utterly personal, yet wholly shared.
• Rever by Outpoint Studio is an immersive audio-visual piece inviting viewers on a journey into dreamscapes and the realm of the subconscious mind. Rever guides you through a 3-minute vivid symphony of light and sound using technology typically reserved for the stage, invoking a raw sense of wonder and imagination.
• See Bradford's hidden Broad Ford flowing through Market Street once more, as Cat Scott brings the beck back above ground in her mirage-like ephemeral installation, Flow (of the Broad Ford). This inspiring piece encourages reflection on the interconnected role water plays in our daily lives, the climate and our wellbeing.
• Listening Lights by Nicola Murray combines light, sound, and storytelling. Inspired by the Japanese Wind Phone, where people continue conversations with loved ones who have died, this thoughtful installation invites participants to step inside a softly illuminated, soundproof telephone booth and speak words of love, memory, and celebration into a telephone handset.
• Inspired by Bradford's mirror pool, Naomi Parker’s Light Fall sees two characters coming to life in an explosion of light, music and colour, bringing family fun to BD: is LIT.
• Explore the mysticism of Sufi Islam at this mesmerising light and sound installation, created by Pakistani musician Zohaib Kazi. Sonic Swirl & Silence features images and recordings of some of the most important Sufi shrines in Pakistan – offering a unique immersion into this extraordinary spiritual practice. Supported by the British Council.
• Spark! is the street theatre show that combines high-impact drumming, dynamic choreography and beautiful lighting design by Worldbeaters.
• Lighting up Bradford one tuktuk at a time. A fusion of traditional Pakistani truck art with contemporary lighting design, The Leap put Pakistani culture and identity front and centre with their illuminated tuktuk and van, the BD Dazzler.
• End over End, by Studio Vertigo encourages the child in you to come out and play. A giant slinky with each coil of the enormous spring illuminated to create the familiar flowing form tumbling end-over-end.

Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places said: “This is a fantastic way to celebrate the weekend after bonfire night, lighting up the city centre with unique and fun activities and installations for all the family to enjoy. This festival is a true celebration of the creativity and innovation on offer here in the Bradford district - don’t miss out!”

Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director, Bradford 2025, said: “We are thrilled to be a part of the return of BD: is LIT for this very special year, bringing incredible light-based artworks to Bradford city centre over the course of a weekend. As we head into the darker months, BD: is LIT is a reminder of the power of art to bring people together for moments of joy and discovery, and for everyone to experience our city and district in new ways.”

Also, on Saturday 8 November is The Broadway Festive Launch to celebrate the official switching on of the city's festive lights, activities start from 12:30

Guides, routes and event information can be found on the Visit Bradford website and BD: is LIT social media pages.