First Light Festival is an annual, free access, multi-arts Festival which takes place on Lowestoft's golden sandy beach. Taking place on 21 & 22 June, the Festival welcomed over 40k people to the town to enjoy a two-day midsummer celebration of music, dance, comedy, poetry, performance, science, sport and wellbeing.

2025 was the 5th First Light Festival. Our 1st Festival took place in 2019, Covid restrictions meant that we were forced to do an online Festival in 2020 and a paired down Festival in 2021. We returned in 2022 with a full Festival, welcoming over 30k people and with new, Wild Beach Camping and Campervans allowing festival-goers the chance to stay on Lowestoft beach.

In 2023, we introduced our highly acclaimed 'Sculpture on the Beach' programme, working with award-winning sculptor Laurence Edwards, we welcomed Chthonic Head, followed by the Walking Men in 2024 and Borrowed Breath and Shimmer this summer. The statues remain in place after the Festival, attracting people to Lowestoft beach throughout the summer.

Since 2022, the Festival has grown, both in attendance and in size, we now have over 500 performers across the Festival weekend, 70 businesses trading, over 500 tickets sold for ticketed events and fully booked camping and camper vans.

The Festival attracts 40K+ people from Norfolk & Suffolk and further afield, with marketing campaigns targeting audiences from London, Cambridge and Essex. A family-friendly Festival, our programme has something for everyone; from boat building and yoga, to DJs, comedians, sculpture and new music.