August 23, 2024 (San Antonio, TX)—Today, Luminaria announced the new location and list of Featured Artists for this year’s Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival. The annual festival is free to the public and features over 100 artists representing a wide array of artistic genres. This year’s festival will illuminate a new location with historic roots. St. Paul Square is located on the eastside of Downtown San Antonio and will be transformed into an immersive nighttime display of lights and art from Commerce Street to the Alamodome on Saturday, October 19, 2024, from 6:00pm to midnight.
The Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival celebrates the arts by bringing artists from various disciplines to exhibit and perform in a vibrant outdoor setting. Attendees can expect to experience diverse artistic expressions including visual arts, live music, dance, large art installations, theatre, poetry, and performance art. This year’s festival promises to be a truly immersive and interactive experience as artists were challenged to reimagine the historic venue and create art that adapts to the location’s buildings, railroad, balconies, courtyards, and public spaces. Visitors can engage directly with the artists and witness the creative process.
In addition, Luminaria has partnered with the Alamodome, UTSA Athletics, St. Paul Square businesses and eastside community partners to bring St. Paul to life for one large celebration of San Antonio art, culture, and team spirit! UTSA will be hosting their annual Homecoming game attracting sports fans, alumni, students, and families to their pre-game interactive activities. Fans will then be able to emerge from the game into the Luminaria festival setting.
Luminaria Working Artist Fund
The Luminaria Working Artist Fund (WAF) is a professional development micro-grant for individual artists living and working in Bexar County. Up to $550 may be requested once per year for activities that support artistic growth.
The Working Artist Fund addresses the impact of COVID-19, the recent winter storm, and other on-going economic hardships on individual artists living and working in Bexar County. The fund will offer support toward a sustainable livelihood for area artists through generous year-round donations from individuals, foundations, government entities, corporations and partners that wish to support a vibrant arts community.
Applications open in the Spring and Fall. Go to anyartist.org to apply.
The Working Artist Fund is supported by
Hopscotch, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, The Espee, City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts and Culture, The Brown Foundation, Texas Public Radio’s !Viva Telethon¡, Nelco Media, Guillermo Nicolas, Angelika Jansen, Phil & Linda Hardberger, Garrett T. Capps, and numerous individual art supporters.
Click here to make a one-time donation.
To become a Working Artist Fund sponsor, email us at admin@luminariasa.org or call or text us at 210.721.1670.
Working Artist Fund Grantees
- Kai Aguirre
- Favour Alabi
- Christopher Arispe
- Marisela Barrera
- DeAnna Brown
- Rick Canfield
- David Zamora Casas
- Veronica Castillo
- Violeta De Leon Davila
- Anna DeLuna
- Joël Dilley
- Kaldric Dow
- Symone Elliott
- Juan Escobedo
- Michael Foerster
- Sarah Fox
- Jorge Luis Gamboa
- David Anthony Garcia
- Melissa Gamez Herrera
- Adria Garza
- Carly Garza
- Nathaniel Garza
- Sarah Gonzales Busse
- Suzy Gonzalez
- Xelena Gonzalez
- Brittany Ham
- Mari Hernandez
- Andrew Jacobi Jeter
- Domeinic Jimenez
- Peyson Jones
- Jennifer Khoshbin
- Brittany Lopez
- Regino Lopez
- Gabi Magaly
- Margarita Maldonado
- Jesus Toro Martinez
- Pamela Martinez
- Raisa Melendez
- Michael Menchaca
- Norma Jean Moore
- Josue Mora
- Amalia Ortiz
- David Ortiz
- Jorge Palacios
- Tanesha Payne
- Asaiah Puente
- Christopher Quiroz
- Andrea Rivas
- Andrhea Rivera-Flores
- Justin A. Rodriguez
- Martin Rodriguez
- Joseph Rogers
- Michael Ryan
- Satara
- Alvaro Salas
- Jacque Salame
- James E. Sanders Jr
- Ray Santisteban
- Keri Schroeder
- Alan Serna
- Shayla Shimmy
- Manuel Solis
- Timofey Trofimenkov
- Jackie Velez
- Shane Vickers
- Angela Guerra Walley
- Ursula Zavala
Note: Some artists may have been awarded more than once. Corona Artists Grant recipients of 2020 are not listed.
Working Artist Fund Judges
- Chris Boneta
- DeAnna Brown
- Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero
- Violeta De Leon Davila
- Jillian Gomez
- Suzy Gonzalez
- Faith Janee
- Andrew Jacobi Jeter
- Jeremy Kingg
- Nain Leon
- Amalia Ortiz
- Andrea Vocab Sanderson
- Jesus Toro Martinez
- Satara
- Jonathan Treviño
Working Artist Fund applicants are reviewed by their peers consisting of a group of working artists from diverse backgrounds and artistic genres. Judges are not allowed to apply for the cycle they are reviewing. They consist of former festival artists and previous grant recipients.
History of the Working Artist Fund
The Working Artist Fund has awarded $92,835 to 187 artists to date. It began as the Corona Arts Relief Program in March 2020 as a response to the significant impact COVID-19 had on San Antonio’s arts community, with many artists losing revenue and professional development opportunities because of distancing requirements and cancellations. To keep San Antonio’s vibrant culture energized during these adverse times, Luminaria created and managed two successful calls for the Corona Arts Relief program, providing up to $600 of aid to 109 individual artists from all genres of the arts. Luminaria also generated public support for individual artists through an online telethon with community partners, targeted social media, and philanthropy requests.
The Luminaria Artist Foundation Grants Program awarded individual San Antonio artists with grants for new works in 2020 and 2021. It was supported by the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture, Kay and Scott Armstrong in honor of Kathy Armstrong, Rick Liberto, The Lifshutz Foundation, Patricia Pratchett, Guillermo Nicolas in honor of his mother Irma Cortez Nicolas, and numerous individual donors.
In 2021, the City of San Antonio renewed their commitment to individual artists by offering grants to support a diverse portfolio of artists working across the City of San Antonio in the production of new, original, high-quality art. Visit getcreativesanantonio.com to apply.
Luminaria is dedicated to the innovative interpretation of our city’s culture, history, and environment through creative placemaking and site-specific arts integration. We coordinate with anchor arts institutions, cultural and heritage organizations, and other community partners to give San Antonio residents and visitors access to a vibrant arts culture.
Join our mailing list and follow us on social media for updates as we plan for 2021!
2020 PlaceMaking
In 2020, Luminaria partnered with Centro San Antonio, the National Park Service, and Mission Heritage Partners on five mural PlaceMaking projects.
Mission San José Tricentennial Mural
Artist Sandra Gonzalez created the mural for the Roosevelt Avenue facing wall of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park Visitor’s Center. The park’s mural commemorates the 300-year history of Mission San José.
Centro San Antonio Art Everywhere
The Centro San Antonio murals are part of Centro’s Art Everywhere initiative and will adorn the facades of four downtown buildings when they are all completed. San Antonio artists Suzy Gonzalez, Kat Cadena, Rudy Herrera, and Joe De La Cruz will each add their creative voices to our city’s urban core.
Creative ventures such as these are made possible in part by our partners at Centro San Antonio, the National Park Service, and Mission Heritage Partners.
