Waterside Arts’ Prism Festival returns for third year
Prism Festival, powered by Waterside Arts in Sale will run from Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 November.
Hothouse Air Giants © Sandra Ebert
The festival will transform the venue inside and out into a vibrant celebration of light and illumination with immersive experiences that use digital arts and ground-breaking performances for audiences of all ages.
This is the third iteration of Prism Festival, Waterside’s ambitious annual winter festival of light, which takes place over three days each November, centring around Sale’s cultural heart and leading arts hub.
New for 2025, Together We Grow is a bold co-created digital installation and immersive performance programme shaped by young people from underrepresented backgrounds in Trafford and Greater Manchester. Together We Grow has been commissioned specifically for Prism Festival.
Guided by themes of growth, identity and transformation, the project will fuse digital art, performance and participatory practice to create an inclusive, multi-sensory experience.
Together We Grow: The Garden will be a digital installation/exhibition and will invite audiences to nurture a digital garden through interaction, triggering blossoming animations and soundscapes. Suitable for all ages, The Garden will be free to attend throughout the festival.
Together We Grow: Bloom After Dark, led by Creative Technologists and Dance Theatre Performers Night People, will be an evening experience transforming the space into a club-style event with live dance episodes, motion capture, sound and visuals immersing the audience in a sensory celebration of identity and transformation. Suitable for ages 14+, Bloom After Dark will take place each evening during the festival.
Bloom After Dark takes place 7.45pm 20-22 November. Tickets cost £12 (standard) and £10 (concession).
Night People co-directors Aaron Howell and Daisy Howell say: “We as Night People are absolutely thrilled to join forces with Waterside to unleash the fanatical world of 'Bloom After Dark'.
“As creative technologists and dance-theatre performers, we are bringing our signature mischief to Prism Festival, crafting a night where digital dreamscapes collide with heart-thumping movement. Think techno club meets mythical garden party meets camp joy... with a few cheeky surprises along the way! We can’t wait to bring something gloriously alternative and radically bold to audiences across Sale/Trafford.”
Lighting up Waterside Plaza for Prism this year will be the Hothouse Interactive Trail, a whimsical garden of six interactive plant sculptures, each standing around two metres tall. Brought to life through movement, light, air and Air Giants’ pioneering robotic technology, Hothouse invites audiences of all ages to explore a collection of new other-worldly botanical specimens and to be immersed in a robotic environment of colour and movement.
Happy As The Day Is Long © James Mulkeen
Hothouse is free to attend and runs from 4pm-8pm each day of the festival. The centrepiece for the outdoor performance during Prism Festival will be Happy As the Day is Long from Stella Creates, a giant 1.5 metre mirror ball constructed from a kaleidoscope of brightly coloured mirrored pieces, creating geometric rainbow patterns.
The artwork reflects beautiful beams of light, which will transform the space into a mesmerising environment, where light dances with the night. The mirror ball creates the backdrop to a pop-up silent disco, where visitors can immerse themselves in the joyful disco atmosphere. Happy As the Day Is Long is a free outdoor event, but booking is essential. It runs every day throughout Prism Festival.
Groove and Glow
Waterside favourites Curious Arts are back in Sale with Groove and Glow, an interactive pop-up performance, a glowing disco on wheels. Festival-goers can catch all the fun with Groove and Glow on Saturday 22 November on Waterside Plaza.
Mishra featuring Deepa Shakti © Benji Wilson
Mishra featuring Deepa Shakti will be playing live at Prism Festival on Friday 21 November in a special cross-cultural collaboration show. The band will deliver multilingually reimagined folk songs, new compositions and swirling Celtic melodies underpinned by hypnotic qawwali grooves.
Festival curator and Waterside manager Darren Adams says: “Prism Festival 2025 is poised to be our most ambitious and immersive edition yet. At Waterside, we’re committed to creating a space where artists, audiences and the local community converge.
“This year we are working with more collaborators, each with their unique and bold ideas, so this combined with brilliant local talent, Prism 2025 is set to be the most exciting festival to date.”
Prism Festival runs from Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 November 2025
