Following the success of last year’s biggest ever Burning the Clocks event, organisers at Same Sky are growing the parade’s artistic community by welcoming the local deaf community to celebrate the winter solstice on Saturday, December 21.
Burning the Clocks will welcome over 2,000 parade participants with a dozen local bands, dancers and artists who will entertain more than 30,000 expected onlookers to celebrate the shortest day of the year. The event provides an important community focused antidote to the excesses of Christmas with a different theme every year. This year’s theme is Voyager, with organisers highlighting Brighton & Hove’s important welcome to so many displaced people on their individual voyages.
Artistic Director John Varah said: “This year’s theme was inspired by the 1977 Voyager probe launch and Carl Sagan’s eloquent passage from the Pale Blue Dot, whose relevance continues to grow each year. We forget our core humanity when caught up in the hurly-burly of needless conflict and want, when we’re weary with disasters of the past year. It is only when we reflect on the indifference of the universe and our smallness are we reminded that we are passengers on a spaceship earth, voyagers in time and space, and maybe not much else.”
Over 2,000 Brighton & Hove residents with their handmade lanterns are due to take part in the parade and over 30,000 people are expected to line the streets on 21 December to watch the parade and fireworks on the beach. The Parade begins on New Road and finishes on Brighton seafront near the end of the ZipWire.
This year, the parade welcomes new members from the city’s deaf community for the first time, including Omeima-Arts, a Brighton based deaf British-Sudanese combined textile artist.
Other artists and groups in the lantern parade include Manor Road Gym in East Brighton, Brighton Table Tennis Club, mASCot, Unified Rhythm, Rap ‘n’ Rhyme, BARCO, Woodcraft Folk and local Guides and Scouts groups.
Same Sky Executive Producer, Rob Batson, added: “We’re so excited to bring another spectacular lantern parade to the streets of Brighton this year – it will be the 30th Burning the Clocks for this great city! We’re hoping for good weather, as always, for all participants and onlookers, but also to ensure we can put on an incredible firework display and traditional beach bonfire at the end of the event.”
Onlookers watching the parade are also asked to contribute money into donation buckets and card readers along the route to help fund the event. There is also a crowdfunder campaign that offers different prizes including personalised lanterns for the parade, limited-edition prints and a chance to lead the procession. People can also receive VIP passes to watch the bonfire and fireworks part of the event from a prime location on the beach. There are also limited edition original prints from regular artist Graham Carter, who has created another great poster for 2024.
Burning the Clocks is supported by Arts Council England, whose contributions have supported the high rising costs of materials, labour, and transport. Brighton Fringe, Brighton & Hove City Council, Brighton Winter Fayre, Brighton Dome and Festival and Sea Lanes have also made in-kind contributions to support the event.
From Friday, November 15, people can purchase lantern kits to take part in the parade from many stores across the city including Infinity Foods, the Book Nook in Hove, as well as from Same Sky’s website which can be collected from their central Brighton studio. They will also be sold at Brighton Open Market on Friday, December 13. Lantern kits cost £40 (including VAT) and contain materials to make two lanterns, instructions for construction, and wristbands which allow four people to join the parade.
Same Sky is also looking for volunteers to join the parade and support the bucket donations team and the lantern collection on the beachfront. If you have a few hours to spare on the evening of the December 21, register your interest here.
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