Morningside Lights is an annual outdoor procession featuring dozens of lanterns built by volunteers from Columbia University and surrounding neighborhoods during a week of free public workshops open to anyone, with tasks geared toward older kids (10+) and adults. 

Workshop participants will learn the artistic techniques of Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles of Processional Arts Workshop (PAW) as they come together on the stage of Miller Theatre (116th and Broadway) to build dozens of handmade large-scale lanterns, step by step, layer by layer.

Looking back on all that has happened since we last walked together has made us wonder about how our culture constructs and contains collective memory in public space – how we memorialize. This year’s theme, The Reimagined Monument, is a timely invitation to our community of makers to rethink the convention of public statuary, creating their own monuments to speak to our current moment, our shared past, and our hopes for the future.