HELP RESTORE THE BAY LIGHTS

The Bay Lights are now dark. We need your help to bring them back.

Widely considered one of the world's great public art projects, The Bay Lights officially went dark on March 5 - the 10th anniversary of its initial Grand Lighting. The system of LEDs was failing at a rate faster than could be repaired, a victim of the harsh environmental conditions of San Francisco Bay. 

The good news: an extraordinary plan has emerged to return artist Leo Villareal's masterwork even more magically than ever. The number of programmable LEDs will double to nearly 50,000, making the artwork visible to communities around the Bay. The lights will be visible throughout much of San Francisco, on Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island and in many East Bay communities, including Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville. And for the first time, we seek to have the lights be safely visible to drivers on the Bay Bridge, creating a world-class nighttime public art portal into San Francisco.

$11M is needed for their return and already donors have committed over $6M. Arts nonprofit Illuminate is again spearheading the effort with a plan to raise the funds through ten $1M gifts from major philanthropists and this crowdfunding campaign for the final $1M - allowing everyone to participate. 

Please join us in helping return this public art masterpiece. Your gift of any size will help. We will do this collectively, one dollar, one hundred dollars, or $1M at a time.

For more information or to make a non-cash gift, major gift or grant contact:

Ben Davis Ben@illuminate.org

David Hatfield David@illuminate.org

For assistance with launching your own campaign or fundraiser to help:

Patricia Suflita Wilson patricia@illuminate.org 

www.Illuminate.org

#TheBayLights360