Not Quite Light festival returns to Salford to reveal a different side to the city

Not Quite Light will return to Salford next month. The award-winning festival, which will be held in the up-and-coming regenerated area of New Bailey, aims to show a different side to the city, using all the senses.

NQL was founded by artist Simon Buckley, who made headlines last year with a striking rain-soaked photograph of Manchester taken on an iPhone that several people compared to Lowry.

Simon has worked with local neighbourhoods and communities to curate the festival, using creativity to explore themes of regeneration and heritage in Salford. His own artwork will be on display alongside that of painter Andy Cropper and illustrator Simone Ridyard.

All proceeds from this year’s event will go to Henshaws, a local charity which supports people living with sight loss and a range of disabilities help them to build skills, develop confidence, help each other and look forward to a more positive future.

The weekend’s events include ‘Dining in the Dark’ at Firefly, night walks, a dawn bike ride and guided blindfolded walking tours. ‘We See What We Hear’ will see the audience blindfolded throughout a concert performance, which will be held in a secret location.

Other events include Disco Tesco, which will use music and food to bring together all the different nationalities in store at the Tesco Salford Precinct branch by serving food from around the world, to the music of DJs from different countries.

As part of the festival, students from the University of Salford will be performing their own new work as part of the ’Walk the Plank’ event, and the award-winning Two Shot Podcast will be recorded live at the university on the Saturday afternoon.

“We decided to have the focus on New Bailey this year because it’s such a great hub for Salford,” says Simon.

“I’ve been photographing the development of this area for the past two years and so have seen first-hand how much Salford is evolving.

“People forget that this part of city was mostly unused wasteland. I’m really grateful to New Bailey for their support and excited to be using the space for creative events.”

Not Quite Light takes place 24th-26th March 2020 at New Bailey.

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