The Éclat initiative will have three major focus:
Éclat Conference
Featuring workshops and sessions lead by internationally renowned architectural lighting and light art experts.This year’s conference will be held online. Click Here to access our video platform.
Registration is $100 CAD per person.
Éclat Competition
The lighting competition will be launched in 2022.
As part of this event, artists and designers will be given a space, a challenge and a timeline within which to complete a design and install their solution.
Éclat Installations
Each year, we will highlight the works of a select group of global designers. The designers will be invited to share their designs with the local public and conference attendees. For 2021, we are excited to share three lighting installations: Blossom, Synergy and Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan.
We anticipate in year one we will have the Conference and demonstration components, working up to Hosting the LUCI Cities Under Microscope project here in Saskatoon in 2022 or 2023.
Éclat Mission
To provide a vehicle for expanding, knowledge, artistic expression and enhanced public utilization of light.
Éclat Goals
- Education and knowledge building with regard to the design, implementation and use of light for artistic expression, safety, ambience, traffic and pedestrian flow.
- Provide a unique festival with global interest that will bring an international audience to Saskatoon.
- Provide live scaled examples of lighting approaches and solutions that can enhance the quality of life.
Who its for?
- Lighting artists, designers, architects, city planners and the like.
- International travel audiences from countries such as: China, Japan, Australia, Europe (France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway), Italy, US and Canada.
- Domestic travel audiences from within Canada.
Why this initiative?
LUCI Charteron Urban Lighting
Promoting a culture of sustainability in lighting

Éclat is a proud member of LUCI Association, the international network of cities on urban lighting. As such, we promise to uphold the values included in the LUCI charter:
We, the member cities of the LUCI network, would like to hereby affirm our shared conviction that lighting can play a determining role in supporting the sustainable urban development of our cities.
We strongly believe that urban lighting, with its capacity to organize and stimulate urban activities, to enhance cities and their urban spaces and to increase the quality of life of its inhabitants, can indeed contribute positively to building sustainable cities.
A responsible public lighting strategy can assist in meeting the following objectives:
- Supporting the urban, social and economic development of our cities
- Reducing energy consumption
- Taking into account the social and environmental impacts linked to the production, exploitation and maintenance of lighting installations.
We therefore wish to define the issues related to the implementation of sustainable lighting, and the way such lighting can contribute to sustainable development policies in cities worldwide.
Sustainable Cities
Integrating urban lighting in urban development policies
We are convinced that high quality and carefully designed urban lighting can influence the process of urban development and regeneration in a decisive and positive way.
We believe that a fully integrated public lighting strategy supported by a master plan constitutes one of the keys to a balanced urban development.
Thus, we the member cities of LUCI, hereby declare our commitment to:
Ensuring an equal and free access to urban lighting
Lighting is one of the basic needs for living in urban areas. Cities must guarantee an equal and free access to urban lighting for all citizens, regardless of their social status and physical conditions. This means that lighting strategies should concentrate on the entire city, including city centres, suburban areas and the periphery of cities. Lighting should contribute to reducing social and economic inequalities and support integration policies.
Creating a safe and comfortable environment
Lighting has played a historical role in making our cities safer, more secure and more comfortable to live in. Urban lighting strategies must maintain
this as one of their primary and most essential objectives. They must contribute to creating a secure and comfortable environment. This involves consideration being given to the role light plays in creating a feeling of safety when necessary, with a reasonable amount of light.
Using light to build the urban and cultural identities of our cities
Lighting, whether temporary or permanent, is a powerful tool for city marketing and city enhancement. It can help create distinctive
nightscapes and can define and enhance significant urban areas, buildings or monuments.
However, lighting to enhance and promote our cities must be handled with care and some aspects deserve specific attention:
Reinforcing cultural and social identity
Urban lighting should be encouraged in its capacity to build and/or reinforce the link between people and their urban environment. Lighting events and festivals in particular should give expression to urban creativity, culture and art, and serve the social unity of our cities.
Preserving and protecting heritage sites and ancient city centres
Lighting of historic buildings or structures and lighting in historic areas should respect and enhance their architectural characteristics and quality. Careful consideration should be given to the positioning and daytime appearance of luminaires and other electrical equipment to ensure that they do not damage the physical fabric of buildings or detract from their appearance.
Supporting an environmentally friendly mobility
Lighting must play an important role to ensure safety for automobile traffic, but it should also strongly support green mobility as well. Bicycle lanes, local public transportation and pedestrian routes must be lit to an appropriate level to offer an adequate and safe alternative to transportation by car, and thus contribute to minimising the negative effects of motorised traffic on climate and the environment.
Strengthening local economic development
Lighting strategies must support local economic and commercial development. By its ability to enhance and improve the image of a city and its quarters, well designed lighting can constitute an attraction for residents and tourists, as well as for commercial and economic activity. In an indirect way urban lighting investments are economically efficient and can be decisive in stimulating economic development.
Sustainable Light
Considering the environmental and ecological impacts of light
Cities and countries worldwide are taking action to limit their CO2 emissions and we fully support these initiatives.
We believe that cities can contribute to these objectives by planning and realising their urban lighting strategies in an efficient and resource-friendly way.
Thus, we the member cities of LUCI, hereby declare our commitment to taking into consideration the following issues in our lighting policies:
Optimising energy consumption
Urban lighting is a major consumer of electric power in our cities and therefore contributes significantly to their carbon dioxide emissions. The climate change challenge can be dealt with only through utilising new intelligent approaches and technologies, which minimise power consumption while improving the light quality in our cities.
Two levels of CO2 emissions must be taken into consideration:
Energy sources
To reduce the environmental impact of urban lighting to a minimum, cities must promote and use renewable energy sources (solar energy, wind energy, energy derived from plants (biomass) or from water) wherever possible rather than energy derived from fossil fuels. Cities should also promote research in this field.
Operating energy
Urban lighting must contribute to energy efficiency objectives through the implementation of innovative strategies and concepts developed
in urban lighting design as well as through up-todate technologies applied to lighting equipment and management systems.
Minimizing the environmental impact of all operating and production aspects
Cities must take into consideration the entire life cycle of materials: this includes all the resources that are needed for the production of lamps, luminaires and columns, as well as the cost of their transportation.
At the end of the lighting’s life cycle, all products used must be disposed of without risk for man and the environment. Recycling must be set as a priority in all cities.
Maintenance and quality control
Maintenance is one of the most important responsibilities of cities and is vital for energy efficiency. The financial, human and material cost and impact of maintenance must be identified at the beginning of any project and a maintenance plan prepared. Lighting designs should ensure that installations are easily accessible for maintenance and easy to maintain. Cities should also take responsibility to control the quality of their lighting and its photometrical characteristics.
Reducing light pollution
Light pollution obscures the stars in the night sky for city dwellers, interferes with astronomical observatories, and, like any other form of pollution, disrupts ecosystems and has adverse health effects.
Two main aspects related to light pollution should be taken into consideration by cities:
Human health and biodiversity
Urban lighting strategies must take into account the potential nuisances of intrusive or disruptive lighting. Beyond the feeling of discomfort, disturbing the natural light-dark cycle can create a malfunction of the circadian rhythm of humans, animals and plants and thus have a negative impact on their health and the environment. Cities must aim at creating comfortable light environments and protect darker areas.
Preserving the dark sky
Due to light pollution the stars in the night sky have become invisible in many metropolitan areas. As a result of poor lighting design and improper products, waste light is emitted towards the sky instead of illuminating the areas to be lit. The use of luminaires with improved photometrics that limit waste light, careful lighting design and sensitive handling of urban lighting can reduce light pollution and help make starlight visible again.
Following these commitments, we, the member cities of LUCI, hereby engage ourselves in:
Applying the existing local, national and international resolutions and charters on sustainable development and sustainable technologies.
Developing an integrated approach to the design and implementation of lighting in urban planning and development policies. This involves:
- Using lighting master plans as a strategic planning instrument.
- Organizing active civic participation on significant lighting projects.
Disseminating a new culture of sustainable lighting in our cities, by:
- Supporting open innovation by encouraging and promoting activities in all domains related to sustainability.
- Promoting good practice solutions and demonstrating the positive results of advanced lighting concepts and technologies for innovative lighting.
- Contributing actively to the expertise within the LUCI network by exchanging experiences and building benchmarks of good practice.
Verifying the results of our efforts and giving a progress report every 3 years.