Honorable Mention: The Pink Triangle
Illuminate
Illuminate The Pink Triangle will create an acre of light in the high center of San Francisco, raising a beacon of Pride, Equity, and Justice.
Key Team Members
About the organization
Founded in 2011, Illuminate was the driving force behind The Bay Lights that now adorn the Western span of the Bay Bridge. Combining the vision of founder and CEO Ben Davis and renowned artist Leo Villareal, The Bay Lights gorgeously represent the transition from impossible to possible. Almost immediately upon flipping the "on" switch, The Bay Lights became one of the world's most recognizable pieces of public art and it continues today as both a mesmerizing piece of art and a beacon of possibility. In 2016 Illuminate formally gifted The Bay Lights to the State of California, ensuring their maintenance - and magic – for years to come. The Bay Lights served as a public affirmation of Illuminate's capacity to successfully mount and complete a large-scale public art project and was a springboard for our establishment as an important arts organization in San Francisco. Illuminate followed the success of The Bay Lights by celebrating the 40th anniversary of Harvey Milk’s election as the first openly-gay publicly elected official with two high-profile installations in the Castro. “Harvey’s Halo” was a temporary week-long light installation and Milk’s words “Hope Will Never Be Silent” now brilliantly adorn – in neon – the entrance to the Castro. And Illuminate’s funkadelic lighting of the exterior of the famed Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park continues to delight. Unveiled in June 2017 to highlight the city’s 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the debut drew more than 25,000 people to Golden Gate Park. The exhibition ran throughout the summer and a winter installation followed. Due to its popularity, it continues nightly.