Edinburgh: The city for 24-hour party people

INSOMNIACS will be delighted. An all-night arts festival is being planned for Scotland as part of a cultural phenomenon that has swept around some of the world's great cities.

• Tripping the light fantastic: Around 100 venues are lit up on Paris's Nuit Blanche, including the Tuileries Gardens and Place de la Concorde

Talks are underway over the staging of the first Nuit Blanche – or White Night – festival in Edinburgh next spring. It follows major successes in transforming public buildings after dark in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Amsterdam, Toronto and St Petersburg.

Some of the best-known landmarks in Edinburgh – including the Castle and St Giles Cathedral – are set to be involved in a move that will enhance the capital's reputation as a festival city.

The Nuit Blanche events are traditionally held over around 12 hours from dusk and generally see venues hosting art installations, performances of music, dance, performance art and film, and sound and light shows. Restaurants and bars are also likely to be encouraged to stay open late or open early – subject to licensing laws – to cater for the revellers.

Unique Events, the company behind Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations, is drawing up the plans for the first event. It is hoped the first Nuit Blanche could be held over a weekend next February or March if a funding package can be secured over the next few months.

Scottish Enterprise has ordered a feasibility study after the City of Edinburgh Council revealed its backing for creating new events outwith the busy summer and winter festival periods.

Artists spend months creating one-off experiences to give audiences the chance to experience familiar buildings as never before.

Many galleries and museums install special lighting schemes to help promote the festival. Locations used have been as varied as town halls, public squares and gardens, swimming pools, concert halls and shopping centres.

The first Nuit Blanche was held in Paris in 2002, when it was held across 20 venues, but has now grown to more than 100 and attracted some 1.5 million attendees last year.

Toronto's event has been running for four years and attracted 100,000 visitors to the city, generating an estimated 18 million for the local economy.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise said the proposed event was aimed at generating additional visitors during the current "downtime" in the city's event calendar.

"The idea currently being considered is the very successful Nuit Blanche model. The report being produced by Unique Events will help to inform discussions with partners regarding how we take this forward."

Pete Irvine, the artistic director of Unique Events, said: "We are still working on the report at the moment, but I would say it is very much in Edinburgh's interests to continue to lead the UK when it comes to festivals and events. The city cannot afford to stand still."

Other cities to embrace the concept, which involves free entry to all participating venues, include Madrid, Lima, Rome, Chicago, and – in the UK – Leeds and Brighton.

Both the National Galleries of Scotland and National Museums Scotland, which own some of the capital's leading cultural buildings, have been involved in early talks and have thrown their weight behind the venture. Other venues could include John Knox House and Mary King's Close.

A number of council-owned venues, including the Usher Hall, Princes Street Gardens, the Assembly Rooms, and the City Art Centre, are also expected to be involved.

Cllr Steve Cardownie, the city's festivals and events champion, said: "Edinburgh's events calendar goes from strength to strength, and we are always interested in exploring new and exciting events which would appeal to residents and visitors alike.

"These kinds of events have proved hugely successful in cities such as Paris, Toronto and Brighton. As things stand, we need a clearer idea of when and how something similar to the Nuit Blanche model could be held in Edinburgh. We look forward to seeing the final report with interest."

The National Galleries pointed out that it had already opened the doors of major attractions for one-off events, during exhibitions by artists such as Andy Warhol and Ron Mueck.

John Leighton, director-general, said: "I was directly involved in establishing Museums at Night in Amsterdam and know from personal experience that these events can be a great success.

"We would be delighted to be a part of a 'Nuit Blanche' if such an event were be to held in Edinburgh. Experience in other European cities has shown that it is a wonderful celebration of the arts which can attract a large numbers of visitors."

A spokeswoman for the National Museums Scotland said: "We have participated in this feasibility study and are keen to see the outcome.

"We do see this type of activity as an important way of developing new audiences and we are also looking at the feasibility of evening events for the public when the redeveloped National Museum of Scotland re-opens next year."