Light Night Leeds will return on 28 and 29 October, marking the first time the festival runs during half term. The event will feature large-scale projections, exhibitions and performances across the city.

This year's festival carries the theme 'A City Speaks…', exploring the stories, people and places that have shaped Leeds over the past four centuries while looking towards the city's future. The event forms part of Leeds 400, marking 400 years since Leeds was granted its first Royal Charter by King Charles I.

Major projections and installations

One of the centrepiece works, 'Call My Name, Call Me Home', will transform the façade of The Queens Hotel. The projection combines song and story in a celebration of belonging and the places that shape a life, unfolding five decades of memories across scenes of the city's streets, bars and homes as they change throughout a person's journey.

The work was created by Leeds-founded digital storytellers imitating the dog together with local musicians Hope & Social. The lyrics and music were developed first, with visuals and animation taking inspiration from the finished song.

Simon Wainwright from imitating the dog said: "We worked closely with Hope & Social and the lyrics and music actually came first for this piece, with the visuals and animation taking inspiration from the finished song. We're storytellers and so our main focus is in creating a narrative with heart that everyone in Leeds can hopefully resonate with."

'Call My Name, Call Me Home' is supported by Markel and The Queens Hotel.

At Leeds City Museum, artist Lou Chapelle's holographic installations will bring to life three magnificent owls inspired by the owl on Leeds' historic city crest. Presented as glowing holograms, the owls appear almost close enough to touch as a meditative soundscape transforms the space into their imagined habitat.

On Cookridge Street, visitors can look up and discover glowing neon artworks based on drawings made by children in care, capturing activities they enjoy doing with their foster carer. The works are created in collaboration with Foster4Leeds.

At Leeds City Library, guests are invited to step into 400 years of Leeds history through the collections of Leeds Libraries. Displays include 17th-century manuscripts, rare maps, photographs, films, newspapers, football fanzines and books. A special virtual reality workshop brings these treasures to life in a new way.

Scale and support

Light Night Leeds is one of the UK's largest light festivals. Last year the event welcomed more than 200,000 visitors across the city over the two nights.

The festival is organised and delivered by Leeds City Council with additional funding from Arts Council England, alongside support from sponsors, trusts and foundations based in Leeds, across the UK and internationally.

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council's deputy leader and executive member for economy, said: "Light Night is a major event in our calendar every year and we are really looking forward to the wide variety of projections and performances that are on offer for this year's festival. It's great to have this opportunity to really celebrate Leeds and bringing people together to explore the stories and the people who make the city what it is."

For details of the full programme visit lightnightleeds.co.uk and follow Light Night Leeds on social media for more information.