Inspired in part by France’s influential arts festival Nuit Blanche, San Antonio’s shape-shifting Luminaria has been in a state of creative flux since its arrival on our cultural landscape back in 2008.
Outlined in a five-year plan commissioned in 2013, the festival is now committed to “staging in a different area of downtown annually, extending programing and moving to the fall to position it within a global arts calendar.” After taking shape last year as a two-night affair with curated components — from murals to live music and site-specific installations — showcased in indoor/outdoor locations surrounding the Southwest School of Art, El Tropicano Hotel and the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, Luminaria found its first executive director in Kathy Armstrong, who served as the Southwest School of Art’s director of exhibitions for nearly two decades.
Enforced with a wide-ranging Artistic Advisory Committee comprised of actor/playwright Marisela Barrera, Trilogy Dance Center owner Paige Berry, visual artist Riley Robinson, filmmaker/educator Adam Rocha, musician Chris Smart and San Antonio Museum of Art curator Anna Stothart, Luminaria is accepting applications through June 15 as part of an open call for project proposals. While submission guidelines can be found online at luminariasa.org, SAMA is hosting a Luminaria Call for Proposals Artist Meeting (6-7pm Tuesday, June 9) designed to answer questions and guide applicants through the process.
Set for October 23-24, the eighth annual Luminaria will take over a new River North footprint anchored by SAMA and featuring multi-disciplinary works (visual, performance, literary, musical, environmental, film, dance and beyond) created specifically for the occasion.
Luminaria Call for Proposals Artist Meeting
Free, 6-7pm Tuesday, June 6, San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 W. Jones Ave., (210) 978-8100, luminariasa.org.
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This article appears in Doseum.