Interview by Julia Aguillon
Article by Jackie Velez

Luminaria is an arts non-profit organization that is dedicated to producing and promoting the arts of San Antonio, Texas. Executive Director, Yadhira Lozano, announced the organization’s Contemporary Arts Festival for the fall and is inviting all artists to participate.
Every fall, the organization celebrates the artists by producing the amazing Contemporary Arts Festival. This wonderful celebration takes place in downtown San Antonio. Some of the arts that Luminaria loves to spotlight are poetry, literature, theatre, and music, just to name a few.
“We cover just a wide variety of art,” said Lozano.
Lozano, who grew up on the South Side of San Antonio, was a fan first of the arts organization before joining it. She attended many festivals and has always been involved in the arts.
“My brother and I were musicians,” said Lozano. “I played violin in the high school mariachi and sang.”
In the 90s, Lozano left for Los Angeles after she was accepted into University of Southern California. Lozano lived in California for 20 years but always returned to Texas every summer to visit her family and eat a home cooked meal.
“Don’t ask me what my favorite restaurant was growing up,” said Lozano. “Mom’s house.”
While living in California, Lozano saw the rise of arts activism during political issues that plagued the 90s, and that are still relevant today.
“There was a lot of persecution of immigrants, there was a lot of laws that they were trying to pass, so there was a lot of activism,” said Lozano. “And when activism comes to the surface, the artists come through for everyone through the music, the art, the signage, the posters, there’s a lot of effort that goes into the cause.”
Now, as an executive director of Luminaria, Lozano is reaching out to all artists to participate in the fall festival. There is a waitlist for artists to submit their information year-round. This gives Luminaria the chance to invite a diverse group of voices to their events such as the Contemporary Arts Festival.
“Just support the arts,” said Lozano. “There’s a lot of people struggling financially because of the pandemic, things are opening back up, but the artists and art, that’s who we turned to when we were shut down completely.”
Luminaria’s Contemporary Arts Festival is free and set for November 13, 2021, from 6pm to midnight. This is one important event you need to attend, peeps! Let’s support the arts!
If you know or are an artist who would like to participate in Luminaria’s events, please visit https://luminariasa.org/