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In this series, we explore projection mapping projects around the globe! From shows on Australia’s iconic Sydney Opera House to Romania’s massive parliament building, we’re displaying some of the hottest monthly global projects.
Let's Glow SF, the nation's largest free holiday projection arts festival, just made a triumphant return to downtown San Francisco for its fifth and grandest year yet! Let’s check out this unforgettable celebration of creativity, community, and holiday spirit.
Organized by the Downtown SF Partnership, the free event transformed major downtown sites into an open-air art gallery over December 5-14, 2025. And this year’s festival expanded its footprint to eight landmark locations, including the recently renovated Transamerica Pyramid Center for the first time!
Artists from around the world, including several locals, created 19 custom works for the event. Jacob Stephens of San Rafael, for instance, presented Gingerbread Mania, transforming buildings into enormous gingerbread houses using light.
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The festival also featured a new interactive element this year — six radiant icebergs that played songs when you turned a dial.
The inaugural Let's Glow SF started in 2021, designed to bring vibrancy and visitors back to the city’s core during the winter season by transforming several downtown buildings with large-scale projection mapping.
Recognizing the need to invigorate the central business district, Downtown SF Partnership collaborated with A3 Visual and Panasonic to launch the event. The experience resulted in a remarkable increase in foot traffic throughout the Financial District and created an impressive economic impact of over $2 million in the first year alone.
Since 2021, Let’s Glow has continued to expand, becoming an annual December tradition, producing economic benefits, and attracting tens of thousands of attendees. For the 2024 event, A3 Visual and Downtown SF Partnership deployed 13 Panasonic high-brightness, high-resolution PT-RQ35 3-Chip DLP 4K projectors, bringing the holiday spirit to others with its stunning visuals. And in 2025, the event was a major success once again!
To learn more and catch a glimpse of the festival, check out the video below.
This year’s festival expanded to eight landmark locations. The locations included:
Yep, there are lots of creative ways to decorate for the holiday season! Considerations for holiday projection mapping typically include the house size, color, windows, location, and more. Additionally, check out this guide to learn all about Christmas projector lights!
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Image Credit: SFMTA
A University of Central Florida double-alum with a Master’s in Digital Media, I'm a content creator who loves bringing people together over shared interests. As AVIXA's Coordinator of Digital Content, I produce articles on a myriad of technology topics. I've also worked on virtual reality projects, transforming Romanian folk tales into VR narratives.
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Thank you for sharing this ! it seems events like Let’s Glow SF highlight the power of AV to transform public spaces and create meaningful shared experiences.
Always great to see creativity, technology and community intersect at this level.