What does courage look like? What does love sound like? To amplify voices from the LGBTQIA+ community in a crescendo of emotion and expression, we teamed up with The Ally Coalition on an interactive installation. Our goal was to craft a safe space where the manifold meanings of Pride each took on lives of their own. To foster a range of interpretations, we used “What does Pride mean to you?” as our prompt. People could share their truths both at the installation and on Twitter, and with each courageous participant’s message, the live installation was transformed. AI would detect and translate each message’s sentiment, causing the room to erupt with a profound multi-sensory symphony featuring flashing lights and a soundscape composed by St. Vincent (and users’ inputs). The audiovisual display pulsed with life, marrying otherworldly lights, emotive sound, and the innermost feelings of the community it was honoring.

We asked the global LGBTQIA+ community and allies the question, “What does Pride mean to you?” From love and hope to longstanding rage at the discrimination the LGBTQI+ community has faced, users could add to the chorus by tweeting their own thoughts, feelings, and reactions using #FeelThePride. Next, Microsoft’s Sentiment Analysis API analyzed the thousands of hashtagged tweets. It deciphered whether the message was positive, negative, optimistic, sad, or anything in between and based on that analysis assigned a color on the rainbow spectrum to each message, along with a corresponding loop of music composed by St. Vincent. These lights and sounds came to life on site in NYC: Made from layers of LED lights and a custom soundscape by St. Vincent, Feel the Pride built a mood based on each personal message, translated by Microsoft AI. Within the installation space, we also hosted a series of workshops, talks, and a livestreamed discussion with LGBTQI+ thought leaders, inspiring forward-thinking activism and action. Ultimately, the installation was a real life depiction of cultural progress over the course of the last half-century since the Stonewall Uprising, and a testament to Microsoft’s people-first ethos. Feel the Pride was a vision of a more accessible and inclusive future. The response to Feel the Pride was emphatically positive. Especially in an environment where brands often merely pay lip service to progressive causes via virtue signaling, the fact that Feel the Pride was powered directly by the voices of the LGBTQI+ community and allies was meaningful to the community and attendees. Support from allies like Jack Antonoff, activists like Angelica Ross and Madame Gandhi, and publications including Billboard and iHeartRadio netted nearly 266 million earned media impressions and 2.7 million video views. Microsoft was viewed as an empowering partner, creating a meaningful and authentic experience.