Historic Oakland Cemetery lights up with Illume this weekend

ATLANTA — Looking for something to do this weekend? Add a trip to Oakland Cemetery after dark for an experience unlike any other!

Illumine 2024 is an explorative experience featuring innovative lighting displays and projections that reveal new ways to see Oakland’s history and architecture. Guests enjoy interactive installations by local artists and live music throughout the cemetery. Illumine is one of only two times each year that Oakland Cemetery opens its gates to guests after dark. The event runs April 25 through 28.

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Illume at Oakland Cemetery Looking for something to do this weekend? Add a trip to Oakland Cemetery after dark for an experience unlike any other!

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Illumine 2024 features multiple musical performers each night. Performing this year are cellist Okorie “OKCello” Johnson, jazz group Bonaventure Quartet, singer/songwriter Veronika Jackson, rock band Moody Hollow, and guitarist Joe Capo. Performance schedules are listed on Oakland’s website.

This year, Illumine invites attendees to engage with the theme “out of the shadows” via interactive installations that play with light, shadow, and movement.

• Infinity Shadows in Oakland, by local artist David Muehlenkamp offers guests the opportunity to view themselves in shadow perpetuity.

• Artist Stefanie Wardrep’s Left Unsaid invites guests to send notes to loved ones who have passed via “mailbox” renderings of Oakland sculptures.

• Returning artist Cooper Sanchez, also a long-time Oakland horticulturalist, transforms Oakland’s greenhouse with both natural and visual interpretations of the lives of moths—creatures of shadow— in his piece, Attracted to Light.

• Phillip Cheng’s Aurora Avenue is a colorful lightscape that pays homage to winter and heralds the coming of spring.

• Cast Your Shadow, by Black Label Design Company, invites guests to briefly leave their marks at Oakland by creating shadow art and images.

• Into The Light, a soundscape by gardens team member Janna Rhoden, guides guests through the shadows and back into the light. It is inspired by the beauty found uniquely within Oakland Cemetery, whose garden speaks to all who listen.

Other installations feature soundscapes, moonshadows, and more. The event also includes bars featuring Tip Top Proper cocktails and craft beer, as well as an Oakland shop with unique gifts highlighting light and shadow, the historic cemetery, and its gardens.

“While Illumine has always invited guests to celebrate art and the beauty of Oakland’s gardens, we’re excited this year to have more ways for guests to interact with the art. Only a small number of people get to rest eternally within Oakland’s walls, but Illumine 2024 will invite folks, through words and shadows, to temporarily leave their marks on Oakland,” said Sandy White, HOF’s director of special events and volunteers.

Entry to Illumine begins at 7:30, and the final entry is at 10:30. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors, students, and children. Because each evening of Illumine has a limited number of tickets, those interested in attending are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance.

Illumine 2024 also features an elevated VIP experience in the historic Oakland Bell Tower. VIP guests will enjoy access to second-story balconies with unique views of the Illumine installations, Oakland Cemetery, and the iconic Atlanta skyline. VIP tickets also include a VIP-only restroom, seating area, a separate bar, a decadent dessert bar with a variety of sweet bites, and complimentary glow-in-the-dark accessories. VIP tickets are $85.

All proceeds from Illumine support Historic Oakland Foundation’s mission to restore, preserve, enhance, and share historic Oakland Cemetery with all of Atlanta.

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