Tuesday morning, the Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival announced its lineup of more than 35 artists and artist groups for its 2022 edition, to take place Nov. 19 outdoors around the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts and Travis Park.
The lineup includes Texas visual and performing artists, many of whom are Luminaria veterans, including Of the Serpent collective, Jesus Toro Martinez, Eddie Vega, and the Urban-15 performance troupe.
Other participating artists in various genres including dance, installation art, video, fashion, and film hail from diverse locations including Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Mexico.
Among featured musical groups and performers are Andria Rose, Nicky Diamonds, Piñata Protest, Haile Uriarte y su Tumbao Orquesta, and Masizzo, representing a range of genres including hip hop, salsa, Tejano conjunto, country rock, punk, and indie.
As a nonprofit organization, Luminaria raises funds to present its free annual outdoor festival. Proceeds from a public kickoff party Sept. 22 at the Lonesome Rose honky tonk on the St. Mary’s Strip, featuring live music, live painting, and the Breath of the Serpent art installation from 2021, will benefit the 2022 festival. Tickets are available for $15 through Eventbrite.
Luminaria began life as an itinerant event, moving from the Alamo, to Houston Street downtown, to Dignowity Park and environs, to East Jones Street in its early years before landing at Hemisfair in 2017.
Construction at Hemisfair necessitated a move this year back to the Tobin Center, which served as Luminaria’s home in 2014.
Yadhira Lozano, executive director of Luminaria since 2020, said the location in the heart of downtown brings new partners into the fold, including the Hopscotch art installation space, the Radius Center, and the ice rink in Travis Park. Lozano said she expects 30,000 attendees for the free festival.
“We all come together to help each other unite under the umbrella of all of the arts,” she said.
Krystal Jones, director of the Department of Arts and Culture, credited several city departments with helping to facilitate the festival in its new location and praised the level of artistic talent in the city.
“When people come to the festival, they want to learn more, they want to dive deeper into what makes San Antonio so special,” Jones said.
Information on the upcoming festival is available on the new Luminaria website. Information on previous Luminaria festivals is available at luminariasa.org.
