Soho unveils Soho Kids Xmas Lights

The Lord Mayor of Westminster, ITV television personality Brenda Edwards, councillors, children and parents attended the switch on event of a child-created festival of lights on the streets of Soho, London.

©Tunde Valiszka

The Soho Kids Xmas Lights 2023, now in its 3rd annual edition, have a strong community focused theme: lighting, identity of place and fashion.

Soho Parish Primary School pupils, under the direction of architect and founder of award-winning Architecture for kids CIC, coproduced 14 new street lighting panels this year to add to the 35 designed in the two previous years – a total of 49 (and 2 commissions) luminescent installations are now lighting up the streets of Soho.

Vesper Barrett, aged 6 years old, and Emberly Macklin, also aged 6, said it was “amazing and really nice” to see their drawings turned into Christmas lights on the streets of Soho. Emberly designed a patterned Christmas bauble because she sees patterns on dresses all the time, while Vesper’s design of Santa’s reindeer with a Christmas hat and sparkle, won awards from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Lighting Industry Association.

Antonio Capelao assisted by Hannah Peaty (Assistant Head, Soho Parish Primary School) and Joshua Brooks (RIBA Interim Learning Manager) delivered a series of design workshops to the children to initiate their journey as lighting designers, that included a visit to the Andy Warhol: Textiles exhibition at the Fashion + Textile Museum, as well as the research of their local buildings, cultures, communities and traditions.

Judges from a committee formed of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Lighting Industry Association (the LIA), the National Gallery, local business owners, councillors, residents, Hannah, and Antonio, jointly selected 14 of the 130 pupils’ designs, to be made into street lighting panels. Some of which, received an award from the RIBA and the LIA for their outstanding design works.

In a curatorial workshop facilitated by Antonio and Hannah the 14 winners curated the lighting exhibition for the streets of Soho to showcase the 35 lights designed in the two previous editions and their 14 new designs. The Soho Kids Xmas Lights project is ongoing and every year new lights are added to the existing ones.

Visitors can download a walking tour of the lights from now until 7th of January via th link here and the long term plan is for the light panels to be added to every year. Each lamp post where the light panels are installed features a QR code that links to information about the project.

A huge thank you to our generous sponsors and supporters of the project include Westminster Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), Westminster City Council (West End Ward Funding), Shaftesbury Capital, Broadwick, Archer Street Bars, Hines, Fidelity Energy, Location Assist, The Royal Institute of British Architects, Randall & Aubin, The French House, Soho Housing, ABS Group, Karma Sanctum Soho, CTS Solutions LTD, as well as the fantastic support of Councillor Patrick Lilley, members of the Soho Business Alliance, the Soho Society, the Soho Radio, and the community in general that come together to co-produce and co-create the Soho Kids Xmas Lights project.

A special thank you to Siobhan MaGill and her team at Archer Street Bars for hosting and sponsoring the event and her support throughout the year; the renown Brenda Edwards and the Lord Mayor of Westminster Cllr Patricia McAllister for officially switching on the Soho Kids Xmas Lights; Daniel Lismore for inspiring the pupils with his art; Phil Robson Interim Director of Highways and Transportation at Westminster City Council and his team for enabling the swift installation of the lighting panels in the lamp posts of Soho; Jason Lampshire and Trevor Leaman and all the team at Location Assist, Rob Davis and John Nolan and all the team at Westminster City Lions for setting up and hosting the project’s website; Sophie Draper and Joshua Brooks at RIBA Learning for the support throughout the year and awards; Ayça Donaghy and Bob Bohannon at the LIA for their support and awards; Andrew Hicks Estate Director and Matt Smith Head of Sustainability at Shaftesbury Capital for their support; Jake Walsh at Hines, John Haw at Fidelity Energy; Tim Lord and Lucy Haine at Soho Society for their support; Jo May at Soho Business for her support Alliance; Rupert Power at Sophie’s Steakhouse and Jack Solomons Club & Chair of Soho Business Alliance for his support throughout the year, Jamie Poulton at Randall & Aubin and co-chair of the Plan for Soho for his support throughout the year; Charlotte Neep at Fashion + Textile Museum for making us all feel welcome at the Museum, John Bryson at John Bryson Design; Tunde Valiszka at Tunde Valiszka Photography; Hannah Peaty and Louise Ritchie and Oliver Knight (Head Teacher, Soho Parish Primary School) and all the Soho Parish Primary School community for enabling the project; PC Andy and all the team at the Soho Police; and Councillor Patrick Lilley Lead Member of Soho throughout the year and for always connecting the dots.

VENUE: Soho Streets including Archer Street, Great Windmill Street, Brewer Street, Rupert Street, Berwick Street, Lexington Street, Great Pulteney Street, Marshall Street, Upper John Street, Upper St James Street, Warwick Street, Wardour Street, Dean Street, Greek Street, and Frith Street.
ENTRY: FREE
IG: SohoKidsXmasLights