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Lightswitch and Upstaging illuminate Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park’s “Enlighten” with Chauvet

Now in its second year, the walk-through experience “Enlighten” at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which runs from November 24, 2025 to January 3, 2026, breaks the mold when it comes to this type of holiday events. Visitors will hardly see any typical “Christmas light” red and green color schemes, nor will they encounter typical holiday gobos projected everywhere.

“‘Enlighten’ is not just a ‘Christmas show’”, confirms John Featherstone (of Lightswitch), who serves as the project’s creative director, adding that the color section involves translucent jewel tones and myriad other hues. As for the absence of gobos, Featherstone explains: “Because we let nature and the garden’s collection of astonishing works by some of the world’s greatest artists provide the texture, we elected not to have the clutter of gobos or texture everywhere. We didn’t want gobos to fight either the world class art or the beautiful natural setting, so we elected to use broad strokes of color.”

Helping Featherstone and the team at Lightswitch create these strokes is a collection of 182 Color Strike M motorized strobe-washes, nineteen Strike 1 blinders, and fourteen Strike P38 units from Chauvet Professional, supplied by Upstaging. Positioned throughout the mile-long path, these fixtures are used in a variety of ways, depending on the artwork or garden section being lit.

“Lightswitch differs from many other holiday garden celebration creators because our work is entirely site-specific”, says Featherstone. “Following this philosophy, we took everything that already existed at the Meijer Gardens, interpreted it, and then devised a plan to enhance it.” In addition to garden and foliage arrangements, the walk-through features works by sculptors including Rodin, Henry Moore, and Ai Weiwei. Contemporary art also enlivens the experience.

Featherstone worked alongside Collin Mulligan (lighting designer and co-creative director), Mark Villa (lighting designer), Connor Sullivan (lighting designer and media programmer), Steve Hiben (technical designer) and Upstaging’s Ryan Breneisen, who served as project director.

www.chauvetprofessional.com

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