ENLIGHTEN, an all-new holiday light+art experience at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park surpassed all expectations. Celebrating Meijer Gardens' role in the community as a home for the intersection between art, nature, and the light, ENLIGHTEN delighted guests of all ages with a magical, immersive spectacle.
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is one of the world’s finest horticultural display gardens and sculpture parks, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Proudly ranked among the most-visited art museums worldwide and named the Best Sculpture Park in the United States by readers of USA Today for multiple years, the breathtaking collection showcases over 200 captivating sculptures by some of the world's most beloved artists, inviting guests to experience the perfect blend of art and nature. The new President & CEO, Charles Burke, and COO Carol Kendra wanted to elevate their holiday experience to the same level as their world-class sculpture collection. So ENLIGHTEN was born.
Lightswitch differs from many other holiday garden celebration creators because our work is entirely site-specific. So we took everything that already existed in the Meijer Gardens and interpreted and enhanced that. We asked ourselves, ‘How do we create a light show that is hyper-specific to Meijer Gardens—that can only exist at Meijer Gardens?’—and built upon that foundation. The team from Meijer Gardens left the storytelling with light to our expertise and experience; to design and curate the experience for them.
We approach all of our projects with a great sense of honor and privilege. Great institutions like Meijer Gardens empower Lightswitch to effectively become their ambassadors and to deliver a message to the community, which is a physical and experiential manifestation of their brand promise. When Meijer Gardens turned to us and asked us to develop a show for them that celebrates their role in the community as a site for the intersection between art, nature, and light, we took that really seriously. At Lightswitch, it’s always about creating something that is a truly differentiated human experience.
Developed and produced in just nine months, ENLIGHTEN at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park surpassed all expectations. Seamlessly created and executed by Lightswitch, it is a quintessential example of our ethos and practice of Pragmatic Design. With a short timeline and very specific goals, we balanced all aspects of the design and execution process to ensure the creative, financial, and logistical needs of the project remained in balance and harmony to maximize the return on investment for Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
In its first year, ENLIGHTEN attracted over 80,000 guests and garnered widespread acclaim and national media recognition as one of the top holiday events in the Midwest.
photography by Connor Sullivan
