Liverpool LightNight 2016 programme announced

Prepare to be dazzled on 13 May as LightNight, Liverpool’s one-night arts festival, returns to illuminate the city for a seventh consecutive year. For those uninitiated, it’s a night when tens of thousands of visitors descend on the city centre as venues, museums, galleries and arts spaces stay open late into the night.

This year’s programme, announced today, is typically eclectic. The theme is ‘Experiment’, and the programme promises that "audiences will have the opportunity to see a side of the city they may not have experienced before. There’ll be able to take in light projections, new musical compositions, outdoor games, hands-on art and science workshops, walking tours, and even visualisations created by their own brainwaves and heart rate."

New music from Bill Ryder-Jones

A highlight looks to be Daniel Thorne's audiovisual arrangement of No Worst, There Is None, Bill Ryder-Jones's new orchestral piece inspired by Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem of the same name. Taking place at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral (9pm & 10pm), it combines the vocals of Liverpool Cathedral's Youth Choir with visuals by artists Sam and Damien Wiehl, resulting in a stunning large-scale immersive audiovisual performance. Thorne (founder of IMMIX ensemble) had this to say about the work: "It is a real privilege to work on this project. Bill has created a beautiful response to the text, and the audience will be given the unique opportunity to hear his piece from multiple perspectives as it is passed across a number of different instrumentations, all within a stunning visual context."

If you prefer to make your own music, why not sing your heart out at The Big Sing Ting with some of the city’s finest singers to form a mass vocal jam (Town Hall, 8-9.30pm)? Or, as the sun sets, you can take in the 80-strong Katumba drummers who’ll be bringing Brazil to Liverpool with a big performance of unique beats along with boisterous moves from Capoeria for All at the Pier Head (8.45-9.15pm).

Art at Liverpool LightNight

One of the biggest thrills of LightNight is getting to explore Liverpool’s arts and cultural institutions late into the night. Experience the birth and death of stars at a late-night opening of FACT’s latest exhibition unfold by Ryoichi Kurokawa (5-10pm); check out the Walker Art Gallery's exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion after hours (5-10pm); explore LJMU as they open the doors to three of their buildings – John Lennon Art and Design Building, Redmonds Building and Aldham Robarts Library – for a night of experimental film, live music, talks and hands-on light installations; and be one of the first people to see unique new exhibition Afro Supa Hero at the International Slavery Museum on the day it opens, where you can enjoy guided tours as well as make your own comics (5-10pm).

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 Win a hotel stay at Adagio Aparthotel for Liverpool LightNight!

 Manchester After Hours 2016: What to see

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Dance at Liverpool LightNight

Pace yourself, though, because as well as the culture, there are plenty of opportunities to get your groove on too. You can dance the night away with STΔTK and Shush! Silent Disco in Picton Reading Room in Liverpool Central Library (8-11.30pm). Get philosophical as you boogie with dance workshop The Art of Making Dance, which encourages you to consider your body, its place in the world and your connections with other human beings (Anglican Cathedral, 6.30-8.30pm). And you can take part in an international dance mash-up as Movema and Gallimaufry create a Bollywood and Ceilidh dance fusion at St George's Hall (9-11pm). Constellations, meanwhile, is the after party destination – expect music from some of Liverpool’s best DJs including Abandon Silence resident Andrew Hill, No Fakin’ DJs and Faux Queens (10pm-2.30am).

These are just a selection of the 100-plus free events happening across the city. Best of all it's an arts festival for all ages and practically all the events are free, so join in and enjoy what is traditionally one of the highlights of Liverpool's cultural calendar.

For full programme details, go to lightnightliverpool.co.uk, and win a night's stay in Liverpool at the Adagio Aparthotel for LightNight on our competitions page.