Here Comes The Sun at The Umbrella Arts Center is a collaborative mixed media and lighting installation conceived by artists Ellen McHale and Gail Burr. For this installation, community members are invited to contribute origami doves made of recyclable Tyvek and inscribed with messages of hope, wishes, and dedications to the heroes around us. These “dedication doves” are then hung on a rig over The Umbrella’s main entrance at 40 Stow Street, Concord, where visitors can see them during daytime Artfest celebrations, or at night when they are accompanied by special lighting designed by Wyatt Burns of A2D Productions.

With its community-wide collaborative nature, the installation will continue to grow and change over the course of Artfest as participants contribute more dedication doves, up to 2,000 or more, culminating in final celebration on Sunday, May 16. Community groups ranging from elementary school classes to public safety personnel and scores of other volunteers have helped fold the doves this spring. Guests registered from The umbrella’s free Open Studios outdoors can make their own dedication doves on site, or you can make some to display in your own home using instructions available in the Kidstrack activities section of The Umbrella’s new Artfest app.

Here Comes The Sun is inspired by public art installations that McHale and Burr have experienced, including Michael Pendry’s “Les Columbes”, a traveling art installation that includes sculpture, light, and music.

The Umbrella invites the community to visit the installation outside of timed events as it evolves through the festival and share their impressions the social media campaign, #HereComestheSun #Artfest #DiscoverYourArts.

For more information, see TheUmbrellaArts.org/Artfest