BASILDON town centre was lit up with stunning 'night light' themed arts and culture on Saturday (16 December), bringing an estimated 5,000 residents together to enjoy a plethora of live music, comedy, installations, crafts, street performers and more to the Shine ON! event.

One special show-stopper was an awesome light and audio installation in East Square, titled 'Colony', made up of seven, large, air and light-filled blue, tactile 'sensory spheres'. Residents were invited to wander among them, touch and hug them. The spheres lit up, hummed and provided a contemporary soundscape. They were created by Hogarth Productions and attracted 2,500 visitors alone.

Another commission saw a fantastic array of visuals projected through the night onto Basildon's iconic Brooke House building - a 14 storey tower block of flats built in 1960-62 and designed by chief architect and planner of the Basildon development, Anthony B Davies. The projections - which included retrospective images of Brooke House - were created by artist Captain Stonefish.

Spearheaded by The BasildON Creative People and Places programme - an Arts Council funded initiative to bring arts to the borough's communities - Shine ON! is a programme running through the dark winter months up until the end of January 2024. It sees creative pop-ups, interactive work-shops, family activities, community events and everything in between.

Saturday saw a jam packed three hours of entertainment from 3pm - 6pm, with many of the performers incorporating the 'night light' theme into their costumes or acts.

Stilt walkers, circus acts and poi performers juggled, shimmied and shone using a jaw dropping ar-ray of LED lighting balls and other props.

The 'Electric Glide' fairies who zoomed about on their Segway scooters were also a huge hit with families who wanted to stop them for group selfies.

The Shine On! Hub - a temporary arts space inside the empty old British Heart Foundation shop in the town centre - was filled with people making the most of the free craft activities, hosted by a crew of creative volunteers called the Bas Art Tribe who exhibited their work there.

Arty residents took part in creating a fantastic collaborative community mural, which will be dis-played inside the Hub through January, until it finds a new home.

A marquee was erected, which housed a programme of musicians and comedians, while several community projects took the opportunity to also use the space to provide information about their services. These included Basildon Heritage, youth services, the Signpost, The Advice Store, Bas-Arts-Index, Basildon CVS (Council for Voluntary Service) and Trust Links.

Hannah Stacey, Communities Manager for Creative Basildon, said: "Shine ON! Basildon was a great way to bring the community together and get everyone into the festive spirit.

"Having events where everything is free and accessible, where the community can come together to listen to live music, create something crafty to take home, or be inspired by performers and in-stallations is so important for the borough.

"There was a cheerful, community-driven atmosphere, which is what Creative BasildON is all about!"

Have your say by dropping into the Shine ON! Hub or getting in touch via creativebasildon.co.uk