NOVA Light Labs brought lighting design and interactive art installations to 5000 Watts, Square Root Academy's free STEAM night at Esther's Park in Sacramento, California.

Square Root Academy wanted STEAM to land as play, free and open to the whole neighborhood. NOVA answered with a full zone of light: interactive installations set across the park, each one built to be touched. The pieces glowed and the crowd pulled in close, the way people have always gathered around light.

The result was a community night that ran on curiosity. Lines formed at every piece. They held until close.

Interactive art turns an evening in the park into a conversation about the future of STEM.

No piece carried instructions. Guests walked up, touched, played, and figured each one out in seconds. A painting offers a caption. These answered back.

Under Microscopia, an ordinary object opened into a hidden world the moment it slid beneath the lens.

At Floragraph, a hand near a living plant produced light and music, the body's invisible electromagnetic field read through sensors in the roots and made audible.

Sim Sim 5000 loaded classic 1990s simulation games into an arcade cabinet, the modern world explained through play.

Lighting design shaped Esther's Park into an immersive outdoor environment from dusk to close.

A light up piano rang out across the turf. The Sandbox of Life drew a steady rotation of hands, and interactive LED bar pieces threaded the zone together in shifting color.

Every fixture served the same job: keep the park glowing, keep the community playing. The light held the space. The people did the rest.