Nuit Blanche
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Nuit Blanche () (White Night) is an annual all-night or night-time
arts festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lite ...
of a city. A Nuit Blanche typically has museums, private and public
art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city itself being turned into a ''de facto'' art gallery, providing space for art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed social gatherings, and other activities.


History

In 1989, the
Helsinki Festival The Helsinki Festival (in Finnish: Helsingin juhlaviikot, in Swedish: Helsingfors festspel) is the largest multi-arts festival in Finland. It is Finland's biggest cultural event in terms of visitors. In 2015, around 295,000 people visited the Helsin ...
established its
Night of the Arts The Night of the Arts ( fi, Taiteiden yö, sv, Konstens natt) is an annual event held in several major cities in Finland, usually in August. E.g. in 2019: Helsinki, Turku and Oulu 15 August; Tampere and Vaasa 8 August. It is one of many White Ni ...
, "when every gallery, museum and bookshop is open until midnight or later and the whole city becomes one giant performance and carnival venue". A year later, the mayor of Nantes,
Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...
's program included renovating the central city and establishing a "contemporary patrimony", which led arts programmer Jean Blaise to create a late-night cultural festival, "Les Allumées" ("Things Alight"). His concept was to have an arts festival in Nantes, from 6 pm to 6 am, over six years with artists from six cities.Les Allumées (in French)
/ref> They were as follows: *
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, 15–20 October 1990 *
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, 14–19 October 1991 *
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, 19–24 October 1992 *
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, 18–23 October 1993 *
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, 17–22 October 1994 *
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
, 16–21 October 1995. (The Cuban government refused to issue travel documents to the 300 artists expected, so the event was formally cancelled, though events did take place.) In 1993, a year and a half after the St. Petersburg edition of Les Allumées, the annual
White Nights Festival The White Nights Festival is an annual summer festival in Saint Petersburg celebrating its near-midnight sun phenomena due to its location near the Arctic Circle; each year between around April 21 and August 21, the skies only reach twilight an ...
in that city began adding a specifically cultural component to a longstanding annual event that included street carnivals and the Scarlet Sails celebration. The expanded White Nights Festival has included
pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...
(e.g. the
Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
in the open air at
Palace Square Palace Square ( rus, Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, r=Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, p=dvɐˈrtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg a ...
) in 2007 and
high culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society cons ...
events ("Stars of the White Nights Festival" at the
Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...
under
Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company d ...
) every year since 1993. In 1997, the
Long Night of Museums The Long Night of Museums (german: Lange Nacht der Museen), or the Night of Museums, and, since 2005, the European Night of Museums, is a cultural event in which museums and cultural institutions to remain open late into the night to introduce ...
, took place in the newly re-united
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
with a dozen participating schools and exhibitions; the number has risen to 125, with over 150,000 people taking part in the January 2005 night. In 2001, when
Bertrand Delanoë Bertrand Delanoë (; born 30 May 1950) is a French retired politician who served as Mayor of Paris from 2001 to 2014. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he previously served in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and Senate from 1995 unti ...
became
Mayor of Paris The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the C ...
, his deputy, Christophe Girard, invited Blaise to create an event there, and the Nuit Blanche was born. The concept of Les Allumées was scaled down to a single night and focused on the offerings of Paris. "The first night-time trail through the streets of Paris and its contemporary-art scene took place on 5 October 2002, and the opportunity for anyone to explore artistic creation for a night has come back every year since." The idea of a night-time festival of the arts has spread around the world, with events in over 120 cities, including
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Ottawa,
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Edmonton,
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
, Halifax, Winnipeg and Saskatoon in Canada, and several European capitals (Paris, Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Riga, Bucharest and Valletta) which have chosen to pool their efforts as "Nuits Blanches Europe". The cities share their experiences and exchange projects and artists. Each year, new cities become candidates. In 2013,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
hosted Australia's first White Night event with the city's galleries, theatres, music venues, laneways, shops and major cultural institutions all showcasing the city's art and culture, food and wine, fashion and sport. This first Melbourne White Night saw an estimated 300,000 people attend, exceeding initial estimates and constituting the largest event of its kind in Australia. Continuing with its international success, Nuit Blanche was announced to be held in Santiago Chile during 2015, making this important South American capital part of the Nuit Blanche international community. In the capital of Colombia, Bogota, the "Noche en Blanco" was made between 2013 and 2015.


References


External links

{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2015 Recurring events established in 2002 Arts festivals Nightlife Annual events in France