Jane McMorrow - credit to Kitty Wheeler Shaw

What: Magicada sculpture installation - effigy for Burning The Clocks 2026 revealed

Where: Square outside St Peter’s Church, York Place, Brighton, BN1 4GU

When: Sunday 21 December 2025, 4-8pm

Same Sky, the creators of Burning the Clocks, will unveil their newly commissioned large lantern sculpture at the square outside St Peter’s Church in Brighton from 4pm to 8pm on Sunday 21 December 2025. The sculpture, created by Nikki Gunson, for the return of Burning the Clocks in 2026, reflects next year’s event theme of ‘Magicada’ - a symbolic rest followed by a noisy awakening.

Jane McMorrow, Same Sky’s interim CEO said: “We are unveiling our stunning new lantern sculpture this December to help keep the flame alight for Burning the Clocks, having taken the tough but necessary decision to take a year off from running the event this year. This means there will be no street parade, no performances and no fireworks or bonfire on the beach this year.

“The stunning new Magicada effigy has been created by Nikki Gunson and it will play a lead role in the street parade when it returns next year. We wanted to share the theme a year early and display this beautiful lantern sculpture with everyone in the city, as well as giving everyone a chance to meet many of the artists and people behind the scenes who bring us Burning the Clocks. Burning the Clocks is a massive part of our city’s cultural fabric, but it is not funded and is a huge undertaking for our very small but powerful charity, and by unveiling next year’s effigy now, we are hoping to inspire people to get involved when the event returns in 2026, be it as a lantern maker, participant, partner or sponsor,” added McMorrow.

Burning the Clocks costs more than £50,000 to stage every year, with costs increasing by 44% since 2019, including rising logistical costs such as security, stewarding, personnel, equipment and insurance. Income from supporters, including bucket and card collectors on the night, participants, sponsors, and donors helped cover a third of the event’s cost last year. Fundraising events and announcements for the 2026 event will start in spring 2026.

Same Sky runs more than two dozen other community arts events across the country including Glow Wild at Wakehurst Kew, Bexley Winter Lights, Jack on the Green in Worthing and Brighton Children’s Parade in collaboration with Brighton Festival. They also run the Horsham Children’s Parade in collaboration with Happy Accidents and the Winter Light Parades across Kent with Cohesion+.

More information on the 21 December 2025 winter solstice sculpture installation, and for the latest updates from Same Sky visit Same Sky’s Website (https://samesky.co.uk/projects/burning-the-clocks-2/) or find them on Instagram (@sameskybtn) and facebook (facebook.com/burningtheclocks).

To get involved with Burning the Clocks next year and find out more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact jane@samesky,co.uk.