Towards a more Interconnected Art World

A Letter From The Director

Dear friends and supporters,

As 2023 comes to a close, I am humbled in my reflection on what we have achieved in coming together around art, thought, and action. As an artist myself, I am deeply inspired by the care and expansion that results from working in community to platform creative research, which I believe is a model of transformative thinking that changes the world.

“We” at The Luminary means a lot of things. Our community grows and expands outwards, with the unique ability to connect local and global audiences with cultural producers through gathering and platforming art and ideas. We achieve this by way of our exhibitions, our international residency and studio program, our regranting initiative, and a series of regular free-to-attend workshops and programs built in response to our exhibitions and our audience.

This year, in addition to a successful roster of thoughtful, community-engaged exhibitions and programs, the organization’s inclusion of new partnerships with neighboring small businesses, artists, and grassroots organizations gave imperative voice to local stakeholders in our space. With intention, The Luminary has redefined the cultural ecosystem in St. Louis as something that is responsible to its local economy, its neighbors, and its communities— working in a framework of reciprocity that embraces emergent strategies and connects our city with the rest of the world through contemporary art and praxis.

Resident Artist, Elizabeth Burden at Resonance: NUE Landscapes. Photograph by Nyara Williams (2023).

Aloha Mischeaux performing at The Luminary at LOT 49. Photograph by Austin Roberts Toledo (2023).

In a year, I have witnessed The Luminary as it has been transformed and retransformed into a community futures lab, a performance venue, a small business marketplace, a dining hall, an immersive soundscape, a classroom, a dance floor, a studio, an experiment; a hub and a hug.

As a smaller organization, we have—at times against all odds—fueled a love ethic into doing the most with what is available to us; holding the weight of collective grief and exhaustion and channeling our energy into something exuberant, shimmering together. Together, we have crafted a resilience that enables us to create change through joy and connection, which are two important components of making and sharing art.

Gathering in the Community Futures: Space Time Liberation Lab by Black Quantum Futurism for Counterpublic 2023.

Black Quantum Futurism: STL Shrine Time Loop (above), Memory Station (below). for Counterpublic 2023.

This year, The Luminary supported over 186 artists and cultural producers with a staff of 3. We couldn’t have done it without our thoughtful supporters and artists, who have pledged time, ideas, resources, vulnerability, sharing, labor, money, trust. Together we strive for a new, more interconnected art world for St. Louis.

We closed out the year this past weekend with “Together We Ball: A South City Holiday Classic” by Profield Reserve— a multifaceted event that brought together visual artists, musicians, performers, culinarians, designers and basketball all in one evening. It was the perfect note to end on, as a clear marker of the path from which we will continue; one that continues to celebrate artists and critical dialogue, one that engages all five senses and new ways of learning, and one that provides space for our neighbors to try new things.

Together We Ball by Profield Reserve. Image courtesy of Tyler Small. 2023.

It is in this spirit that I look forward to the new year, the next chapter, and continuing the mission of platforming and dreaming new ways of making and being together.

Towards a more Interconnected Art World,

Kalaija Mallery