- This is the second time that we've produced Troy Glow.

It is a festival of art light out in the public.

So in 2022, we did the first iteration of Troy Glow, which was a five-week festival in downtown Troy, 10 installations that people could explore on their own.

The idea being that it would be a biennial, every two years we'll produce Troy Glow.

We also produced the Troy Art Block, which was last fall, and we're hoping again to do in two years, so it will kind of toggle back and forth between Troy Art Block and Troy Glow, so that every fall there's a massive public art festival in Troy and trying to really get Troy on the map as kind of the art kind of capital in the Capital region.

Troy Glow 2024 is 10 light installations in the public in about a four-block radius, so 15-minute walk, people can explore, but only in 10 days, so it's much shorter this time.

There's a lot more artists who are using light as a medium.

Light festivals are happening all over the country, all over the world, and so there are more artists who start working in art school with light as a medium.

And so we are finding that when we did a call this year, there was just so many more artists who had that type of experience.

We found out about Aurora through Kathy Greenwood, who is the curator and the director of the public art program at the Albany Airport.

And so I just found her website.

She has done light art in many different places around the country.

She's local-ish, she's down in the Hudson Valley.

And when I saw her work, I was just blown away.

- I mostly work with plastic debris, which I've been focused on as my primary material for about 20 years.

But my work is not intended to make people feel bad.

It's really supposed to be kind of a celebration of human potential, and ingenuity, and what can be done with this horrible material that has wreaked so much havoc on the environment and all the creatures that we share the planet with.

(dramatic orchestral music) - The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, of course, is going through a massive anniversary this year.

So we kind of just scoped out the building and said like, "Where are some interesting spaces for another installation?"

When we realized that the box office has this great, very low rooftop, we thought this could be a really interesting site for a piece of artwork.

- When I first learned about the opportunity and the location was that the acoustics in here are incredible and that a lot of amazing people have performed in this venue.

So I really liked that idea, because I'm trying to be a better listener in my own life, and the idea of being in a place where people are paying more attention, it just felt really appropriate.

And I love the height that the piece will be.

It's like it's accessible, but not so accessible that people will confuse it for a playground, which has happened in the past, and I just.

(laughs lightly) (gentle piano music) The title of the piece I've created is "Eos," and it's actually made out of, I'm not sure exactly how many, but a number of individual sculptures that I've configured in this arrangement so that it sort of feels like maybe a morning chariot.

Eos is the goddess of the dawn from Greek mythology, and I just hope it gives people, initially, a really warm, loving feeling, and curiosity, you know.

I hope people are interested enough from their visual experience to wanna have some more dialogue, either with me or with this whole issue of plastic pollution and how people can be activated to do more in their lives.

(magical music) - I've been in now the public art field for 25 years, which is crazy.

I think what I appreciate about it and what I love, why I love doing it in Troy is that it isn't just about art, it's about a community, and what a community can do when it comes together.

And art sometimes is just a perfect catalyst for that.

It's a reason to get the businesses to participate in a larger kind of festival format.

It reminds people of the charms of the city.

I mean, you know, we kind of forget when we walk through Troy every day that like, this is like world-class architecture.

And I think we all need a reminder sometimes that it's worth going out to these places.

And I think public art can do that.