Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage

Staithes Festival has established itself as one of the friendliest festivals on the coast – a must-see event in the regional arts calendar.

This year it's 15-17 September 2023.

During the weekend the doors of cottages in the village are thrown open as pop-up art galleries in a unique selling exhibition. 

The heritage of Staithes is celebrated through a programme of walks, talks, historic photographs, film shows, and a demonstration of how to make a lobster pot!

North York Moors, Scarborough Borough Council and Welcome to Yorkshire
Heart Bottles

Glenn Kilpatrick www.whitby-photography.com

Mick Stephenson

This year, for the first time at the Staithes Festival, Mick Stephenson, Stu Langley and their team of light artists  created ‘Light Fantastic’ an intriguing light trail around the village lighting up after dark on Friday and Saturday evening. He ran a workshop for local families and visitors to decorate 2 litre plastic bottles that were then turned into an installation for the festival. Thousands of glow sticks were planted in the beach helped by local children and adults. It was a great success that we plan to repeat this year.

About Mick

Mick Stephenson http://www.mickstephenson.net/ is an internationally recognised light artist who has created light shows both at home and abroad.

Mick has worked on many installations including Lumiere Durham, Lumiere Derry/Londonderry, the Freedom Festival Hull and the Makers Faire, Newcastle where he helped create a light display out of 2 litre plastic bottles, based an idea developed by students from MIT, Harvard which has grown into a charity providing a cheap source of light to 28,000 previously unlit homes in the Philippines. http://www.literoflightusa.org/