ORGANISERS of the inaugural Light Up Poole festival, say plans are already in the pipeline for next year's event.

More than 20,000 visitors attended last weekend’s festival of digital light art that illuminated the town centre after dark.

The three-night event featured a series of installations and events from Lighthouse, through Falkland Square and Kingland Crescent, down the High Street to the Quay.

Artists and designers were invited to respond to Poole on a theme of ‘Identity’ and delivered a range of work including Submergence, the immersive walk-through experience created by Squidsoup, an international group of artists, researchers, technologists and designers; and The Squirrel, a digital art installation by Tim Boin and Dave Lynch to highlight the extinction plight of Brownsea Island’s red squirrels.

Sounds of Poole, a soundscape album created by local school students working with artist Jon Adams and the SoundStorm music education hub played in the Fish Shambles; and Arbour, artist Mark Perry’s illumination of the trees in Orchard Plaza, created a magical walk of light.

Libby Battaglia of festival directors Audacious, said: “This was accessible, interactive, immersive art for everyone and the people of Poole embraced it with real enthusiasm.

“There are amazing things to see every day but sometimes we need to put them in the spotlight so people can see the place where they live in a different light. It was really heart-warming to see so many families out and about, coming together on the streets of Poole after dark in the middle of February to play and have fun with art.”

Visitors to Light Up Poole also helped launch a new app from Bournemouth-based Rogue Games and became the first in the world to try their hand at the game.

The premiere of FLO was beamed onto the wall of Lighthouse and the game has since gone on to top the racing category of the App Store in 20 countries including the USA, Japan, Argentina, South Korea, France and Spain.

Light Up Poole was sponsored by Poole BID and funded by Arts Council England.