2025 Recap
As we reach the end of another busy year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the work we’ve shared across 2025, a year shaped by collaboration, touring, storytelling and bringing people together through culture in public spaces.
From large-scale outdoor performances and festivals to creative learning, heritage and access-focused work, this year has been one of both momentum and reflection, building on what we’ve developed in recent years while continuing to reach new audiences in new places.
Light Up Leicester
Earlier this year, we were proud to be one of the creative partners for Light Up Leicester 2025, delivering Roots of Our Tree, an arts and heritage project celebrating Leicester’s diverse cultural roots.
Through workshops in schools and community spaces, young people explored ancestry, identity and personal stories, creating symbols inspired by their own heritage. These symbols became 300 personal leaves, brought together in a large-scale illuminated installation.
The project launched with a city-centre procession, as over 300 young people carried their leaves through Leicester to form a collective tree at Leicester Cathedral. The installation illuminated the entrance of the King Richard III Visitor Centre across the festival weekend, before continuing its journey with a further two-week exhibition at Leicester Cathedral.
Ancient Giants
This year, Ancient Giants continued its journey across the UK, bringing large-scale puppetry and visual storytelling into public spaces across the UK.
The tour visited York Mela, The Garden Party Festival in Barnsley, An Indian Summer, Big Feast Festival with Appetite in Stoke, The Full Shebang Festival in Mansfield, and Encounter Festival in Preston, meeting new audiences in city centres, festival sites and high streets.
Alongside performances, we delivered touch tours, audio pre-listens and audio description, giving new audiences the opportunity to experience the work through sound, touch and behind-the-scenes insight. The 2025 tour reinforced the importance of free, accessible outdoor performance, creating shared moments that invite curiosity and connection.
An Indian Summer 2025
This year’s An Indian Summer festival was shaped by the theme “The Stories We Bring, The Stories We Shape,” exploring inherited narratives, lived experiences and imagined futures.
Across theatre, dance, circus, film, cabaret, workshops and outdoor arts, artists and audiences came together to share stories, create collectively and celebrate the richness of contemporary South Asian culture. The festival film, launched this autumn, captures the energy, colour and connection that continue to define An Indian Summer as a place to gather, create and celebrate.
We Bring Light: Leicester’s Diwali Legacy
This autumn, we marked an important milestone with We Bring Light: Leicester’s Diwali Legacy, reflecting on over four decades of Leicester’s Diwali celebrations.
The project brought together film, visual art, illustration, research and creative learning, capturing stories, memories and conversations around ancestry that have shaped one of the city’s most significant cultural events. From the launch of the short film and mural to the website and schools’ engagement, We Bring Light now lives on as an ongoing heritage and learning resource for communities to explore and share.
As we look ahead to the new year, we want to thank all the artists, collaborators, partners, funders, volunteers and audiences who have supported our work throughout 2025. None of this would be possible without you.
We’ll be taking a short break over the festive period, before returning refreshed and ready for an exciting year ahead.
Wishing you a peaceful festive season and a very happy new year.
