Aurora, the expansive outdoor light-based art event, powered by Reliant, will return to the Dallas Arts District. For one night, 19 city blocks in downtown Dallas will be transformed into an open-air urban playground of new media art: light, video, sound, and performance. Visitors will experience their everyday urban environment converted into an interactive site for some of the world’s most innovative contemporary art.

This year’s theme, “All Together Now,” references the concept of synesthesia: a term describing the joining together of senses. The theme also hints at Aurora’s new partnership with nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center, and the coming together of the local and international community for the enjoyment of public art.

This year’s edition will present a fresh lineup of contemporary artists and, for the first time, inclusion of four guest curators hailing from Dallas, New York and Berlin to join co-founders Shane Pennington and Joshua King in the curatorial process. Each of the appointed curators has been assigned a designated section of the Arts District and will choose work from a proportional representation of local and international artists who will be selected independently and through an open call.

The six curators will organize five independent sections under the common All Together Now theme. Each curator brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in institution-level public art and international exhibitions, as well as working with a spectrum of emerging to established contemporary artists. In addition, the talented students from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts will again curate and exhibit their own section within the scope of the expansive public art exhibition.

Participating institutions and venues to date include the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas City Performance Hall, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Klyde Warren Park, Meyerson Symphony Center, Nasher Sculpture Center and St. Paul United Methodist Church.

While the event is free for the public, it will also include exclusive VIP experiences for purchase, donors and corporate sponsors, allowing them access to enhanced hospitality around the district. There will also be a ticketed, late night after party and dance until 2 am.