The Alterverse
A Celebration of Poetry and Light in Golden Gate Park
For the entire month of December, Golden Gate Park will be alive with poetry, live music, and light. The Alterverse, created by Illuminate, will feature San Francisco’s dynamic Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin, a curatorial crew of poets, live Music events every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and mesmerizing light exhibitions – including a 450 feet of scrolling poetry lasered on the facade of the de Young Museum. All events are free and open to the public.
Enter The Alterverse
MONUMENTAL RECKONING
On June 18, Illuminate and artist Dana King unveiled Monumental Reckoning, an extraordinary new installation in Golden Gate Park.
Monumental Reckoning fully encircles the memorial to Francis Scott Key that was partially toppled by protestors last Juneteenth by placing “350 ancestors” standing in judgment. The 350 individual statues all linked together around the Key memorial represent the first slaves that came to the US from Africa.
In a ceremony that drew more than 1,000 people into the park, San Francisco Mayor London Breed formally unveiled King’s dramatic presentation.
A temporary installation, Monumental Reckoning will remain in the park for two years.
Here’s a three-minute video on the project.
The unveiling took place on Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. An interrelated Illuminate project – the elevation of the words “Lift Every Voice” atop the newly-renovated Spreckels Temple of Music, is expected to follow later this year.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900, the same year the Spreckels Temple of Music opened. For more than a century, it has been sung as the Black national anthem. Born in 1871, Johnson’s 150th birthday falls on Juneteenth this year. Once elevated atop the bandshell, Weldon’s words will sit directly across the Music Concourse from King’s “ancestors.”
For more information on Monumental Reckoning, please visit www.monumentalreckoning.org
CIRCLE OF LIGHT
An immersive installation honoring the 30th anniversary of the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
The centerpiece of this year’s Light in the Grove annual event, “Circle of Light” will inspire visitors to the AIDS Memorial, one the world’s most beloved sites honoring those who have fallen to AIDS.
The soulful piece, presented by Illuminate, was created by artist Ollie Newth and is financially supported by the National AIDS Memorial. The striking structure gleams brilliantly with 160 individual bars of moving light arranged in an open circle. The circle is not complete to represent the lives that have been lost to the epidemic.
Circle of Light debuts on November 30 and will be open to the public on December 1.
This installation is in memory of Danny Snodgrass (1984-2021).
Revival!
Illuminate’s renovation of the bandshell in Golden Gate Park is complete.
Formally called the Spreckels Temple of Music, the bandshell was slated to debut in time to celebrate the Park’s 150th anniversary in April but the project was halted in March due to Covid-19 restrictions. When restrictions on work were finally lifted, work commenced again and final work on the massive upgrade was completed. The full renovation features a brilliant new multi-level stage, professional-grade theatrical lighting, and a state-of-the-art new sound system.-
This project, led by philanthropists Carla and David Crane – with support from JP Conte – marks a new beginning for this long-dormant and underutilized jewel for public performance. When it’s safe to return fully to the park, a sparkling new Spreckles will be front and center.
View Project
Conservatory of Flowers
Experience the nightly brilliance of Photosynthesis in Golden Gate Park. Illuminate and SF Rec & Park are lighting up the famed Conservatory of Flowers again this year. Come out and see it after dark!
View Project
Illuminate is proud to announce the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund has joined us as our newest Illuminary providing critical operating support. Thank you for your extraordinary commitment to public art in San Francisco.
Learn more about our Illuminary program
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Illuminate's mission is to rally large groups of people together to create impossible works of public art that, through awe, free humanity's better nature.
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