On June 18, Illuminate, artist Dana King, the Museum of the African Diaspora, MAAFA, and the San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce will unveil an extraordinary new installation in Golden Gate Park called Monumental Reckoning.

Monumental Reckoning will encircle the memorial to Francis Scott Key that was partially toppled by protestors last Juneteenth by placing “350 ancestors” standing in judgment. San Francisco Mayor London Breed will formally unveil King’s dramatic presentation.

Here’s a three-minute video on the project.

The unveiling will take 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.”

Join us in Golden Gate Park on June 18 for this important unveiling.

For more information on Monumental Reckoning, please visit www.monumentalreckoning.org

On June 1, Illuminate will again light the Pink Triangle.

One year after creating a sensation in San Francisco with a full acre of pink light above the city, Illuminate will again bring (night) life to Patrick Carney’s epic canvas triangle on Twin Peaks.

And this year, the Triangle will remain illuminated for the entire month of June.

Here’s a two minute video about the project

For the past 24 years Carney and his team of nearly 300 volunteers had installed a massive canvas triangle atop Twin Peaks to kick-off the city’s Pride celebration, but Covid-19 restrictions prevented volunteers from gathering. It appeared that the Triangle – in its 25th year – would not happen. But Illuminate stepped in, assembled a team of light artists and engineers, and safely installed a grid of lights onto the hillside. On June 26, with a locked down city below, Illuminate lit the beloved symbol of hope and inclusion.

Immediately after San Francisco Mayor London Breed flipped the switch on the 2,700 pink LEDs, it was celebrated locally and around the world as a brilliant and still poignant evolution of the Pink Triangle.

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.