A SUCCESSFUL arts festival is set to grow and become a celebration of light and sound.

Bury Light Night launched in 2010 as a one-day event held in the evening to celebrate visual arts and it has flourished ever since.

More than 30,000 people attended last October’s event and organisers now want to branch out and turn it into a new three-day event in Bury town centre on November 18, 19 and 20.

It will include live music, theatre, art exhibitions, light projections onto buildings and a wide range of children’s activities and will either be called Transition or Bury Sounds Festival.

At a full council meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Nick Parnell, the council’s deputy cabinet member for housing and support services, said: “The review of last year’s event established that Bury Light Night has grown to such an extent that its scale has become beyond the capacity of the town centre to accommodate it over one evening.

“It has grown from an estimated audience of 10,000 people in 2012 to more than 30,000 last year.

“While the event was delivered safely, there were concerns that public safety could be threatened by any further growth.”

Describing the new event, Cllr Parnell added: “We have chosen sound art, which includes music, radio, performance, poetry and lots other arts that use sound.”

The festival will predominantly take place in Kay Gardens, Bury Parish Church, Castle Armoury and Gallipoli Gardens.

More events will be held during the daytime so schools and school-aged children can take part.

Restaurants and community groups will be encouraged to join in

Cllr Parnell added: “The event will open up more opportunities for daytime participation of schools and community groups and also make it easier for town-centre retailers and restaurants to get involved.

“Sound is a major art form across Europe, but less so in the UK, and certainly not in our region.

“The specific advantage of choosing an under-represented art form is that we anticipate it will open new sources of funding.”

“We plan to give the festival a three-year run, which is a sufficient timescale to approach funders with a development plan to lever in external support, and we aim to make the event self-financing over the development period.”

Cllr Parnell said efforts would be made to publicise the festival in due course.