Lyon Light Festival Forum 2024
5 – 6 December 2024
LLFF 2024 + Cities & Lighting Awards Ceremony
Co-organized by LUCI and the City of Lyon, the Lyon Light Festival Forum (LLFF) will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Fête des Lumières. An opportunity to reflect on its history and evolution, as well as on the impacts of light festivals worldwide.
The Forum will bring together artists, experts, and city representatives to discuss the origins of the Fête des Lumières, the evolution of urban lighting practices, the transition to eco-design, and the role of light and culture to promote inclusivity.
The opening evening will feature the Cities & Lighting Awards ceremony, honouring cities that stand out for their innovative urban lighting projects.
Thursday 5 December 2024
14:00 – 15:30 Light Festival Working Group Meeting (LUCI members only)
LLFF Welcome and Cities & Lighting Awards Ceremony
Centre Nautique Tony Bertrand – 8 Quai Claude Bernard, 69007 Lyon
(Open to LUCI members and guests – registration required)
| 15:30 – 16:00 Registration
16:00 – 18:30
Cities & Lighting Awards Ceremony and Cocktail |
 |
From 19:00 Discover the Fête des Lumières
Join international peers for an informal tour through Lyon to discover some of the light installations of this year’s festival.
(Find the 25th anniversary installations of the Fête des Lumières, 5-8 December, through the Light & Art Map)
Friday 6 December 2024
Auditorium Malraux – 24 Rue Professeur Rollet, 69008 Lyon
(registration required)
The History, Evolutions
and Impacts of Light Festivals
09:00 – 09:30 Welcome & Registration
09:30 – 09:45 Opening of the Lyon Light Festival Forum 2024
- Gilles Bonnet, President – University Jean Moulin Lyon 3
- Sylvain Godinot, Deputy Mayor of Lyon for Ecological Transition and Heritage – City of Lyon
- Bruno Paternot, Municipal Councillor and Vice President – Montpellier Mediterranean Metropolis | Vice President – LUCI
09:45 – 10:30 The Making of the Fête des Lumières
- Simona Mattia, Sociologist – Kaleido’scop
- Emmanuelle Gallot-Delamezière, Urban Planner – Aire Publique
Conditions of the emergence of the Fête des Lumières in Lyon: how the Fête des Lumières has developed over time, focusing on the various human, contextual and situational factors that have influenced it and shaped its evolution from the 1980s to the present day, making the internationally renown “Fête des Lumières” that we know today.
10:30 – 11:15 Coffee Break
11:15 – 11:45 1999 – 2024 : 25 Years of Evolution of the Fête des Lumières
- Jean-Michel Deleuil, University Professor in Geography, Urban Studies, and Planning – INSA Lyon
Exploring the dynamic transformation of the Fête des Lumières: the festival has adapted to technological, political, and social shifts over the years. We examine how the Fête des Lumières reflects the changing relationship between the city, its nightscapes, and the celebration of light, while remaining faithful to its core mission of artistic and cultural innovation.
11:45 – 12:15 Eco-design & circularity, reducing the environmental impacts of festivals
- Sylvie Bétard, Circular Economy Consultant for Sustainability Transition & Co-Founder – Les Augures
Intended for all professions, from general management to technicians and suppliers, this presentation will aim to introduce the eco-design methodology adapted to cultural and artistic challenges, making it a powerful tool for decision-making and a source of inspiration for collaborative action involved in the project lifecycle.
12:15 – 12:45 Panel Discussion
12:45 – 14:30 Networking Lunch
14:30 – 15:30 Keynote – Follow the Light: Capturing the Impact of Major Events and Festivals
- Beatriz Garcia, Associate Director – Centre for Cultural Value | Honorary Senior Research Fellow, International Cultural Policy & Mega-Events – University of Liverpool
This Keynote presentation showcases the major advancements made to capture and understand the multiple impacts of festivals – and the growing significance of Light Festivals specifically.
The presentation highlights the need to understand impacts in a transversal manner, cutting across economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions and offers referents for festival organisers to learn from and be empowered by more coherent, meaningful and accessible evaluation frameworks. At a time of so-called ‘permacrisis’, with ever shrinking budgets and ever growing competition for attention, having the tools to prove the transformative value of your work is essential to the survival of the festival sector.
15:30 – 17:45 Creative Lighting Pecha Kuchas
- Moderated by Jessica Ferey, LUCI Deputy Director
These sessions of “Pecha Kucha”- style speed presentations will be an opportunity for peer-to-peer sharing and exchange in the field of creative lighting. Hear from light festival organisers, artists, and designers about creative lighting projects.
- Winter Blossom by Darkitects (France)
- LUX Helsinki, a light art event that makes a difference by Marjut Kauppinen, Public Lighting Manager, City of Helsinki (Finland)
- Lux Domus by Josep Poblet (Spain)
- Lightprints by Cecilia Ömalm (Sweden)
- Coral Ghosts by Philipp Frank, Artist (Germany)
- Mons en Lumières: A Celebration of Light and Heritage by Ilenia Borrello, Project Manager, Mons en Lumières (Belgium)
- The Quartier des spectacles and the renewal of Lumino by Émilie Chabot, Director of Strategic Development and Programming, Partenariat du Quartier des spectacles (Canada)
- INTENSCITY & IAE Lyon: reinventing light for a responsible future by Pierre-Yves Toulot, Co-founder of Intenscity, and Lighting Design & Management students from IAE Lyon University (France)
17:45 – 18:00 Closing of the Lyon Light Festival Forum 2024
From 18:00 Light show and cocktail reception organised by University Lyon 3
Inauguration of the sound and light show “La Manu fait son cinéma”, a tribute on the eve of the 130th anniversary of the Seventh Art, invented just a short distance from the Manufacture des Tabacs campus. With the presence of student-artists from IAE Lyon and the Brassart School, as well as all the project stakeholders.
From 19:00 Discover the Fête des Lumières
(Find the 25th anniversary installations of the Fête des Lumières, 5-8 December, through the Light & Art Map)
Photo credits:
©Muriel Chaulet, City of Lyon; ©Laurence Danière, City of Lyon; ©LUCI Association