The Bay Lights

Widely considered one of the world’s great public artworks, The Bay Lights on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge debuted on March 5, 2013. The installation by artist Leo Villareal was instantly beloved and came to define San Francisco’s waterfront visually and energetically.

The brainchild of Illuminate Founder and CEO Ben Davis, the seminal artwork–with 25,000 individually controllable LEDs, 1.8 miles long, and rising 500 feet above bay waters–set new standards for monumental expressionism and collaboration. Davis rallied a vast and generous community around the project, including gaining permission from more than a dozen governmental agencies.

Initially a temporary, two-year installation, the lights came down in 2015 and returned on January 30, 2016. More than $13M was raised by Illuminate to fund the two installations. On the tenth anniversary of their initial grand lighting, The Bay Lights went dark as a new campaign began to bring them back in a new configuration designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the Bay and with double the number of LEDs that will let communities around the Bay experience the artwork.

The Bay Lights continue to be a source of innovation and inspiration, as well as a beacon of love, community, and generosity.

For more information about how you can support the project, please contact David Hatfield at david@illuminate.org