(Photo courtesy of Portland Winter Light Festival)
The Portland Winter Light Festival will return February 5-13, 2027, bringing free light-art installations to locations across Portland for the 12th year. Since the call for participation opened in July, the festival has received over 250 submissions from artists, performers, architects and designers locally and from around the world. Nightlab’s curatorial team is reviewing art submissions now, and the public can look forward to dynamic fire art, large-scale projections, stunning tech-based interactive sculptures, pop-up installations by local artist collectives and youth groups, participatory events and more to light up the dark nights of February.
This year’s theme, “In Other Words,” centers on communication in all its forms: light, sound, movement, and connection between strangers.
Portland General Electric (PGE) returns as Presenting Sponsor, a role it has held every year since the festival’s first edition. The 2027 Light Festival is also supported by Prosper Portland Events & Film Office, Downtown Clean + Safe, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, Alaska Airlines, Killian Pacific, Neighborhood Works Realty, Bridgetown Wealth Management, NW Natural, Precision Images, and individual donors who believe in this user-funded event.
Year after year, the Portland Winter Light Festival continues to illuminate downtown Portland, showcasing the city’s most talented artists,” says Brooke Brownlee, PGE director of community, labor and workforce. “Our cherished partnership has spanned 12 years, and we continue to be awestruck by the breathtaking results of energy powering art.”
The Portland Winter Light Festival is a program of Nightlab (formerly Willamette Light Brigade), a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to nighttime placemaking through light-based art. Nightlab’s programs include the Morrison Bridge Lighting Program and the Illuminate Bridge City initiative, which reflect a shared vision for using light to create more vibrant, welcoming, and connected public spaces after dark.
Portland Winter Light Festival 2027
Where: Locations throughout Portland
When: February 5-13, 2027
Cost: Free
pdxwlf.com