White Night festivals
The white nights is the name given in areas of high latitude to the weeks around the summer solstice in June during which sunsets are late, sunrises are early and darkness is never complete.
[2] In Leeds in October 2005, these 'unusual cultural events' included a string quartet playing at the top of the Town Hall clock tower, a tour round a pitch black church with only a torch and a sinister audio-guide that could not be trusted, and a 'Treasure Hunt' from the Institute for Crazy Dancing.
The Treasure Hunt involved 200 audience members being led across the city and becoming a show in their own right, collecting white boiler suits and umbrellas en route, and dancing up and down Briggate, the main shopping street, with three shire horses, an ice cream van and the bagpipes of Leeds Pipe Band.
In Naples it first took place at the end of October 2005 with numerous concerts (Baglioni, Pino Daniele, 99 Posse, Almamegretta, Stadio) and theatrical and cultural events.
[9] In Finland a Night of the Arts (Finnish: Taiteiden yö, Swedish: Konstens natt) is an annual event held in several major cities in late August.
[11] Program highlights included Carla O'Brien's "Neon Angel Wings", "More than 1 Nation", a projection art project featuring indigenous art on the former Bank of NSW building and the giant-scale puppet The White Night Messenger (by Melbourne-based team A Blanck Canvas) who swaggered through the streets sharing his message of love and compassion and Luke Parker's "Ballarat from above" Drone photography showcase [12] White Night Ballarat runs from 7pm to 7am.
Art institutions such as the National Gallery of Victoria and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image featured free exhibitions and films for the public to attend.
[19][20] Tel Aviv's first Layla Lavan (Hebrew for "White Night") festival was held in 2003, to mark UNESCO's awarding of World Heritage status to the White City, Tel Aviv's internationally renowned collection of over 4,000 Bauhaus or International-style buildings constructed in the 1930s by German Jewish architects who immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine after the rise of the Nazis.
[9] Tel Aviv's reputation as a party city made the festival an annual event, and municipal ordinances now allow businesses to remain open all night on the last Thursday in June.
Based on the Toronto and Montreal models of the festival, and emphasizing the emergence of a prominent arts and cultural community in the city, the event drew over 10,000 visitors on limited resources.
[25] In 2014, the city's second Nuit Blanche Calgary took place on September 20, and featured 12 national and international artists showcasing various performance art events and creative installations.
[33][34] Luminaria is San Antonio's adaptation of “White Nights”, originally conceived in Paris, France in 2002, in an attempt to bring contemporary art to the masses in public spaces.
Christophe Girard, Deputy Mayor of Paris, who instituted the Parisian Nuit Blanche in 2002, traveled there to help launch the event, praising its citizens for their love of "the magic and the mysteries of the night".
In 2008, Lima hosted a Noche en Blanco in mid-May, within the framework of cultural activities of the fifth Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit.
[36] The capital of South Korea threw its first nocturnal cultural festival, Seoul Open Night, in August that year, estimating a draw of about 100,000 citizens at six downtown districts.
