Pittsburgh’s Mellon Square will be aglow this holiday season with a colorful, interactive light display that aims to attract more visitors to Downtown and use a historic public space that’s typically closed in the winter months. The light installation, “Aurora: Illuminating the Holiday Magic of Mellon Square,” is a project of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy which operates and maintains the park in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.“Downtown has so much to offer in the holiday season, and we want Mellon Square to be part of that,” says James Snow, the conservancy’s vice president and chief administrative officer. The installation will be open to the public beginning on Light Up Night, Nov. 23, through mid-January, Snow says. During that time, in addition to the light display, Mellon Square will feature holiday entertainment including carolers and other performances, a pop-up cocoa stand and possibly food offerings. Rendering courtesy of artist Joshua Challen Ice and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. Snow says the installation is “an opportunity to capture people” who are shopping and visiting other longtime holiday attractions Downtown including the Pittsburgh Creche on Grant Street, the Peoples Gas Holiday Market in Market Square, The Rink at PPG Place and the Three Rivers Tree at Point State Park. The conservancy plans to offer a passport that visitors can use to navigate all the holiday attractions in partnership with Visit Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and other organizations, says Alana Wenk, the conservancy’s director of advancement.“We hope you come Downtown and stay Downtown to go out to dinner and on to the next activity,” says Snow. Funding for the Mellon Square installation was provided by the Eden Hall Foundation and The Benter Foundation. A $175,000 grant from Eden Hall Foundation to the conservancy for the project is part of a $10-million commitment the philanthropy announced earlier this year to help revitalize Downtown and recover from pandemic closings.  “Like everybody else, we’re concerned with the state of Downtown,” says Sylvia Fields, the foundation’s president. “We’ve been talking about how to get more people Downtown and a lot of this hinges on programming and bringing life to Downtown” in spaces like Mellon Square, she says. Mellon Square in early October. Photo by Alexis Wary. The Benter Foundation this year granted a total $422,500 to the conservancy for activities in Mellon Square, says Kathy Buechel, the foundation’s executive director. The funds include support for the holiday lights display and related programs, summertime activities, guest services, safety and maintenance, she says. “We wanted to try something festive in Mellon Square to complement the other seasonal offerings Downtown,” says Buechel. “Visitors can enjoy the artwork, the holiday programs and hospitality offered in and around the Mellon Square District.”Mellon Square, which sits atop an underground parking garage at Sixth Avenue between Smithfield Street and William Penn Place, was built in the 1950s as a result of the vision of civic leaders Richard King Mellon and David L. Lawrence “to create an urban, green oasis in Downtown,” says Snow. James Snow, chief administrative officer for Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, left, and installation and sculpture artist Joshua Challen Ice in Mellon Square, site of the light installation. Photo by Alexis Wary.The park is normally closed for the winter season beginning in mid-November because its terrazzo paving can sustain damage from cold weather elements. Now that terrazzo — restored as part of park renovations the Parks Conservancy led in 2014 —  has become the major design component of the holiday installation.The terrazzo’s diamond-shaped patterns are reflected in plastic panels mounted on two spines of curving aluminum truss that will span the width of the park and be approximately 30 feet high, says Joshua Challen Ice, a sculptor and installation artist who designed the Aurora display. LED stage lights mounted around the park and on the truss will point at the frosted white panels, which are hollow in the center and diffuse light, he says.The panels are attached to the truss by thin steel cable that allows them to rotate and change colors when the wind blows or at the touch of a finger.The shape of the truss structure resembles a series of bridge arches and provides another Pittsburgh element, says Ice.“The lighting element was really important with daylight hours shortening in the winter,” he says. “It’s an immersive experience … and will have a warm glow.”Installation and sculpture artist Joshua Challen Ice says the display ”will have a warm glow.” Photo by Alexis Wary.Shiftworks Community + Public Arts, a nonprofit that develops and supports large, public art displays, was the project manager and collaborated with the conservancy, the city and PDP to develop a request for proposals and select Ice’s design. Event production company Flyspace built the installation. Ice, 29, earned a degree in lighting design and entertainment technology from Point Park University and worked for seven years at the Mattress Factory, a North Side museum, as an installer and exhibitions manager. When he left the Mattress Factory, he says, “It was a personal goal of mine to get a public art project.” Snow hopes the Aurora display “is not just a one-year thing.”“We want it to be a Pittsburgh staple.”The post Downtown Pittsburgh is getting a brand new holiday lights display this year appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.