Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor

When did you see your first Luminaria?
Oh! I don’t remember what year it was but it was one of the early ones, when they closed off Alamo Street all the way to La Villita. I was living in Los Angeles at the time but I went to the festival with friends from high school. San Antonio is my home town. I think it was ten years ago. The festival started in 2008, so it’s our 14^th year now.

What was your impression that first time that you attended the fest?
I thought that it was fun. What I remember the most is Charles Harrison Pompa’s installation. Not that I knew who he was back then. But he had these cubes that were lit-up from the inside. Every time you walked around them, there were different shapes forming. It was just a lot fun, very relaxing, very inspiring.

How is the 2022 Luminaria different from previous events?
One thing that I started doing is bringing new artists to the larger stage, so we have artists that have never shown their work outside of their school or church, or a local bar. So, this is a big deal for many artists who applied. There’s one artist who has never shown anywhere beyond his front yard. I want everyone to feel like they are artists in singing, dancing, poetry. It’s ingrained in our culture here in San Antonio.  So many new people applied, and got accepted. When I made those phone calls (to inform applicants that they were accepted), you won’t believe how excited they were. I want to give everyone a chance. So, I am excited to present new artists every year.

This year, there is a change in location. What prompted that?
Luminaria has jumped around. We had to make the move this time because of the construction at Hemisfair. We could no longer use the buildings for light projections because they were blocked off, and we no longer had access to an art gallery. And a lot of artists applied thinking of those buildings that turned out not to be available. In the new location we can use the Radius Center’s East and West walls, which are beautifully long and perfect for our purposes. Also, on the back of the Tobin they have that giant screen that we’ll also be using.

How many artists are participating?
We have a bout 35 “featured artists” but a lot of featured acts are groups. So, if you count all the individual artists, it comes out to more than 250.  We have a fashion show that includes more than 30 people, for example. Luminaria celebrates all the arts, performing and visual arts.

Could you mention some of the groups and what they will be presenting.
 One is called Of the Serpent Collective. They will be presenting fire spinners, live painting, and projections, a very immersive environment. It’s a whole aesthetics around their philosophy of art- like what is next for the art form and how it makes you feel. They emphasize the positive aspects of art.

 An out-of-town artist is bringing to us the performance art act, “Rockefeller and I.” This artist is coming from New York City. His name is John Maria Gutierrez. He works with a director, Uwe Mengel, on this production. It’s a monologue about growing up in Washington Heights and comparing his growing up in poverty with John Rockefeller’s life. That’s going to be an hour-long show.

UNAM is sponsoring two groups from Mexico: Teoria De Gravidad, a contemporary dance company from Monterey, and the animated-projection artist from Mexico City, Abel Zuniga.
(prominent San Antonio artists include flamenco singer Chayito Champion, accordionist Eva Ibarra, conjunto band, Pinata Protest, URBAN-15 and others)

Are most participating artists/acts from San Antonio or do they come from various locations?
The majority are from here. We posted all their bios on our social media.

The name of the festival implies light shows. Are light installations dominant?
It’s a night-time festival but it’s not specifically about light and lasers, though we will have some of that. But the festival is really about celebrating all the arts in San Antonio and celebrating who we are as a community. San Antonio has so much talent that it should be on the international arts map.

Is there an overarching theme for the 2022 festival?
No, no formal theme but there’s always something that I want the artists to think about, and this year it’s “joy.” Luminaria is an opportunity to just feel joy, especially coming out of the pandemic.

What are you, personally, most excited about?
I love having all the new artists but I always want to pay respect to my elders, too. This year, Chayito said that she would bring her mother, Teresa Champion, who was my dance teacher when I was in fourth grade, and Eva Ibarra, one of the few women accordionists of her time will play Saturday. I want our younger artists to get to know them and be inspired by them.

Who chose the curators who chose the participating artists?
They are artists from last year and they are volunteers. I asked them if they were interested in helping out. (The 2022 curators are: Benjamin Crowley (electronic music/projections); Nigel Cunningham Williams (pop singer); Adrian De La Cruz (muralist) and Gabi Magaly (photography and art installations)

What is your favorite art form?
Music was part of my life, probably since I was born.

What are you going to do the day after Luminaria?
Sleep.
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Luminaria 2022, Nov. 19, 6 p.m. – midnight; area between Tobin Center and Travis Park downtown; free