Tripping the Light Fantastic

With at least 12 giant, artist-made withy lanterns and over 700 smaller lanterns, made and carried by local school children and community groups, ‘Truro City of Lights’ lights up the streets for an un-ticketed audience of 25,000 people. The lanterns are accompanied by music and dance from over 15 community music groups including samba, instrumentalists and traditional musicians.

The logistics of organising City of Lights each year are certainly on the large scale and we approach this by considering each of the stakeholder experiences and the subsequent operational needs, including children, artists, teachers, volunteers, suppliers and the media. Safety is paramount so we have to consider potential fire issues, crowd control, viewing lines, emergency access and road closures, and plan the site infrastructure accordingly. For example, we put barriers along central parts of the procession route but now we include gaps at specific points to allow the audience to cross the city centre before the procession moves through, which eases the pressure on each side of the barriers. We never know how many people will come, and this can be highly weather-dependent, which means we have to plan for maximum capacity. Parallel to the site logistics, we also look after the practicalities of getting all the right elements in the right place at the right time, working with the other members of the City of Lights team, such as co-ordinating the materials for the lanterns, getting the lanterns to site, and relocating them to their new homes with sponsors and partner organisations.

Whilst the practicalities are many, they do not constitute the event. We are all there to bring our community together to celebrate light in the dark winter nights and the operational logistics are merely there to deliver the artistic and community objectives. We manage many relationships with City of Lights because the whole city centre is involved. In addition to the core participants, we work with retailers, bus companies, taxi drivers, the city and county councils, general public and the park and ride scheme to make it as easy and safe as possible for people to attend. We recognise our responsibilities to all of the stakeholders in making the event work and it’s vital to the success of the event to ensure that everyone has a genuine engagement with the project. It is only because of the willingness of the various partners, stakeholders and participants to commit to and work within the resources of the project that the event happens at all so collaboration is essential.

For the participants involved, City of Lights is a rite of passage. For 15 years, thousands of children have participated in the event, carrying lanterns, playing instruments and dancing. For many this is an opportunity to create something of their own and perform in front of their community, which builds their confidence and marks their transition into secondary school. It’s an opportunity to be part of something big that involves everyone in the city and the excitement for all those involved and watching is palpable in the build up and during the event. The process of creating a lantern and being in the procession catches the imagination of participants and encourages them to be part of their community on a level playing field.

The management and delivery of City of Lights is undertaken by a small group of organisations and individuals who are committed to making it happen. The event is funded by many supporters and through various routes. Only 20% of the income is from the public sector; income is also received from sponsorship, partner contributions, schools’ contributions to workshop costs, an on-event street collection, contributions from traders, small-scale merchandising and selling the lanterns around the year. We are always on a shoestring and never know if we have enough to cover the costs of the event until the last minute. Having said that, the variety of income sources means that we are not dependent on a single funder, rather we are dependent on all of them.