Things to do in London in January 2025

While January is often seen as a dreary month, there’s plenty to look forward to in the city. The Winter Lights Festival returns to Canary Wharf, while the 75th edition of New Contemporaries at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) will showcase an exciting selection of emerging artists. The London International Mime Festival (LIMF), a celebration of contemporary visual theatre, and the London Short Film Festival are also set to take place. Plus, the London Symphony Orchestra will mark Sir Simon Rattle’s 70th birthday with a special celebration. Explore our top recommendations for experiencing the best of London’s arts scene this January and make the most of 2025.

Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights Festival

Portal Lucid Creates.

#FLODown: Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights Festival is back from 21 January 2025, lighting up the area with a dazzling display of art. This free event features 11 new installations alongside some favourite permanent pieces, showcasing light-based works by both renowned and emerging artists. Highlights include Benedikt Tolar’s glowing bathtubs, Atelier Sisu’s sparkling Evanescent Droplets at Cabot Square, and a luminous flying bird by Luminariste. Lucid Creates also presents a striking light portal at Wood Wharf.

Date: 21 January - 1 February 2025. The festival runs nightly from 5 to 10 pm. Location: Canary Wharf. Price: Free. canarywharf.com.

75th New Contemporaries

Motunrayo Akinola, Grandma’s (gl)ceiling (2023), Installation.

#FLODown: New Contemporaries returns to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) this January, showcasing 35 outstanding emerging and early-career artists from across the UK, selected by Liz Johnson Artur, Permindar Kaur, and Amalia Pica. Addressing themes such as environmental cycles, sustainability, borders, consumerism, and digital alienation, the exhibition offers insight into the pressing concerns of this generation of artists. Participants also benefit from mentoring, talks, and workshops through the Bridget Riley Artists’ Development Programme. Following its launch in Plymouth in late 2024, this exhibition forms part of New Contemporaries’ 75th-anniversary celebrations, which include a major year-long programme of commissions, residencies, and public events. Click here for details on artists whose work will be on show.

Date: 15 January – 23 March 2025. Location: Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH. Price: Free. ica.art.

London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle

The London Symphony Orchestra presents an all-British programme featuring Tippett, Turnage, and Vaughan Williams at the Barbican this January.

#FLODown: To celebrate Sir Simon Rattle’s 70th birthday, the London Symphony Orchestra presents an all-British programme featuring Tippett, Turnage, and Vaughan Williams. Highlights include Ritual Dances from Tippett’s opera The Midsummer Marriage, rich in mythology and symbolism, and the world premiere of Sco, a Guitar Concerto by Turnage, performed by jazz legend John Scofield. The programme concludes with Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5, a deeply emotional work dedicated to Sibelius. Sir Simon Rattle leads the LSO in this vibrant celebration of opera, jazz, and orchestral mastery.

Date: 12 January 2025. Time: 7pm. Location: The Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Price: £18 - £70+ BF. Book now.

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism

Tarsila do Amaral, Landscape with Bridge, 1931. Oil on canvas, 39.5 x 46 cm. Private collection. Courtesy of Almeida & Dale Galeria de Arte – Photo: Sergio Guerini. © Tarsila do Amaral S/A.

#FLODown: Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism at the Royal Academy will feature over 130 works spanning the 1910s to the 1970s by ten pivotal Brazilian artists. Showcasing the rich diversity of Brazilian art, the exhibition draws from rarely seen private and public collections, with many works being shown in the UK for the first time. Highlights include pieces by Modernism pioneer Anita Malfatti, as well as influential artists such as Geraldo de Barros and da Motta e Silva. With each artist represented by at least ten works, the exhibition offers a sweeping exploration of 70 years of Brazilian art, from figuration to abstraction.

Date: 28 January - 21 April 2025. Location: Main Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD. Price: £23.50 - £25.50.  Book now.

Click here for more art exhibitions opening in London in January 2025.

Yotam Ottolenghi: The Comfort Tour

Chef Yotam Ottolenghi will mark the release of his new cookbook with a talk at the Barbican.

#FLODown: Join celebrated chef Yotam Ottolenghi at the Barbican for The Comfort Tour, marking the release of his deeply personal new cookbook, Comfort. Live on stage with a co-author and a special guest host, Ottolenghi will share cooking tips, childhood stories, and the inspirations behind his recipes, which celebrate the joy and traditions of food. Attendees can ask questions and experience the warmth and creativity behind his signature style.

Date: 21 January 2025. Time: 7.30pm. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS. Book now.

Mississippi Goddam: A Celebration of Nina Simone

Nu Civilisation Orchestra.

#FLODown: Nu Civilisation Orchestra honours the life and music of Nina Simone at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring special guests such as Corinne Bailey Rae, Laura Mvula, Ni Maxine, China Moses, and Tony Njoku. Led by conductor Peter Edwards, the performance celebrates Simone’s legacy as a singer, songwriter, arranger, and political activist, with a focus on her iconic protest song Mississippi Goddam and themes of Blackness, womanhood, and the power of music. This concert is part of the Southbank Centre x Montreux Jazz Festival Residency and explores the question, “What is jazz today?” The orchestra, founded in 2008 by Gary Crosby OBE, is known for its innovative approach and has previously performed with artists like Chaka Khan.

Date: 31 January 2025. Time: 7.30pm. Location: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.Price: from £25.00 + BF. Book now.

Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre

The cast of Ballet Shoes. Photo by Manuel Harlan.

#FLODown: Experience a spectacular reimagining of Noel Streatfeild’s beloved novel Ballet Shoes, adapted by Kendall Feaver and directed by Katy Rudd (The Ocean at the End of the Lane). Set in a crumbling house filled with fossils, the story follows three adopted sisters – Pauline, Petrova, and Posy – as they discover their ambitions and strive to build their futures in a world that challenges women with big dreams. Guided by their guardian Sylvia, Nana, and a cast of eccentric lodgers, the sisters navigate their passions while holding their family together.

Date: until 22 February 2025. Running time: Approx. 2 hours and 40 minutes including one 20 minute interval. Location: Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX. Price: from £25. UK residents between 16-25 years old can unlock £5 and £10 tickets for the show. Proof of age required. Book now.

TS Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings

The TS Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings will take place at the South Bank Centre on 12 January 2025. Image by Trust "Tru" Katsande.

#FLODown: The TS Eliot Prize, the world’s most prestigious poetry award, celebrates exceptional poets, both established and emerging. This year’s shortlist, selected by judges Mimi Khalvati (Chair), Hannah Sullivan, and Anthony Joseph, includes works by Raymond Antrobus, Hannah Copley, Helen Farish, Peter Gizzi, Gustav Parker Hibbett, Rachel Mann, Gboyega Odubanjo, Carl Phillips, Katrina Porteous, and Karen McCarthy Woolf. Established in 1993 to mark the Poetry Book Society’s 40th anniversary and honour its founding poet, the prize is now awarded by the TS Eliot Foundation.

Date: 12 January 2025. Time: 7pm. Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes (approx). Location: The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Price: from £12 + BF. Book now.

Veganuary 2025

The Gate Restaurant.

#FLODown: Celebrate Veganuary’s 10th anniversary in London throughout January. Veganuary is an initiative led by a UK nonprofit that encourages people to adopt a plant-based lifestyle for the entire month.

Click here for our list of top vegan restaurants to try in London, ranging from high-end to casual, and join in the celebration this Veganuary.

Winter Light

Squire and Partners - Winter Windows. Image credit Gareth Gardner.

#FLODown: This winter, Winter Lights returns to Southbank Centre, illuminating the space with outdoor artworks that explore light, colour, and societal themes such as identity, technology, and the environment. Featuring pieces by artists like Sophia Al-Maria, David Batchelor, and Mat Collishaw, this free exhibition invites visitors to explore the installations at their own pace. Best experienced after dark, the displays are also viewable during Southbank Centre’s opening hours, with a map available for guidance. No tickets are required to enjoy this vibrant celebration of art and light.

Date: 30 December 2024 – 2 February 2025. Location: Southbank Centre. Price: Free. southbankcentre.co.uk.

22nd London Short Film Festival

London Short Film Festival will take place from 17 - 26 January 2025. Image credit Denise Jans.

#FLODown: The 22nd London Short Film Festival will take place in January 2025, celebrating diverse filmmakers and creatives. Over ten days, the festival will showcase up to 500 British and international short films, selected from over 5,000 submissions, alongside special events and an industry programme featuring workshops, panels, and discussions. The festival also awards cash prizes and, as a BAFTA-affiliated event, offers UK filmmakers the opportunity to apply for the 2025 BAFTAs.

Date: 17 - 26 January 2025. Location: throughout London. Click here for the full programme of this year’s festival.

Dimanche by Compagnie Focus & Chaliwaté

Dimanche is a comic physical theatre production by Compagnie Focus & Chaliwaté, in association with MimeLondon, will show at Sadler’s Wells in January 2025.

#FLODown: Dimanche is a comic physical theatre production by Compagnie Focus & Chaliwaté, in association with MimeLondon, showing at Sadler’s Wells. Using puppetry, miniature vehicles, video, and physical theatre, the show delivers a witty and poignant reflection on the climate change crisis. Set in a near future where humanity has failed to adapt to ecological chaos, it portrays people attempting to maintain normalcy while ignoring the surrounding mayhem. Through lo-fi special effects, Dimanche offers a humorous yet tender exploration of human resilience and stubbornness in the face of nature’s uncontrollable forces.

Date: 29 January – 1 February 2025. Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes (no interval). Location: Sadler's Wells Theatre, Rosebery Ave, London EC1R 4TN. Price: from £18. Book now.

Ice Skating

Final chance to ice skate at Somerset House until 12 January 2025.

#FLODown: If you missed out on ice skating during the December festivities, there’s still a chance to enjoy it in January. Somerset House is open until 12 January, while other locations like Hampton Court Palace are available until 5 January, and Canary Wharf will be open until 23 February.

Here We Glow

Evanescent by Atelier Sisu.

#FLODown: Westfield London will unveil its first-ever light art trail, Here We Glow, featuring stunning light-based installations by internationally acclaimed artists. This free, family-friendly event will showcase eight captivating installations, including giant interactive bubbles, a unique kaleidoscopic artwork exclusive to Westfield, and The Anooki – two larger-than-life characters spotlighting environmental fragility, which have previously been seen worldwide before debuting in the UK at Westfield London.

Date: 23 January - 2 March 2025. Location: Ariel Way Shepherds Bush LONDON W12 7GF. Price: Free. westfield.com.