SAN ANTONIO (DECEMBER 6, 2011) – Luminaria representatives officially announced today a roster of arts professionals who will lead the artist selection process as adjudicators for Texas’ largest art event, Luminaria: Arts Come to Light, slated for March 10, 2012 in San Antonio. The jurors, chosen from outside the San Antonio region, were selected by the Luminaria Steering Committee and represent top professionals in each of the six artist disciplines including dance, literary arts, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts.
“This is the first year that we have brought in outside adjudicators to select the artist finalists,” says Richard Rosen, Artistic Director, Luminaria. “We believe this will ensure diversity, and quality across the disciplines, but more so, will give the artists exposure to an influential group of professionals in each of their disciplines, which is a main goal of Luminaria this year.”
The open call for artists is open through December 9th; artists interested in participating in the 5th annual event can visit www.luminariasa.org and click the “Artists” link for more information and specific deadlines for the application process.
The list of selected adjudicators is comprised of some of the country’s respected arts professionals, and includes the following individuals:
Dominic Walsh - Dance
Dominic Walsh started his training at an early age and joined Houston Ballet in 1989 where he immediately began dancing principal roles. Walsh has danced throughout Asia, Europe, and North America receiving praise from international critics. He has danced all the major classics including Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Romeo & Juliet, and Manon. A two-time recipient of the prestigious Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography, Walsh launched his contemporary ballet company, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater.
Dr. Benjamin Sáenz - Literary Arts
Dr. Benjamin Sáenz, celebrated poet and author, is member of PEN, the Academy of American Poets and AWP. Since 1991, Sáenz has been honored with an American Book Award, a Lannan Literary Poetry Fellowship, a Southwest Book Award, and a nomination for the L.A. Times Book Prize for his poetry collections. His fiction books include a critically acclaimed novel that was awarded both a Southwest Book Award and a Latino Literary Award for Best Novel. Throughout his career, Sáenz’s novels have been translated to Dutch, German, French and Spanish and he has also published four bilingual children’s books.
Bart Weiss - Media Arts
Bart Weiss is an award-winning independent film and video producer, director, editor, educator and consultant. Weiss was Associate Producer of Vatican II Productions and has taught film and video at Texas A&M's Visualization Lab, Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Austin and Arlington, and West Virginia State College. Weiss is a Co-President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), past Vice President of the Texas Association of Film and Tape Professionals (TAFTP), founder and past President of the West Virginia Filmmakers' Guild, and co-founder of the Dallas Video Festival and the Video Association of Dallas.
Rick Mitchell- Music
Rick Mitchell is the Director of Performing Arts and the Director of Education Programs for the Houston International Festival. He has been an artistic consultant to the festival since 2000, serving as the music stage curator and grant writer for several years before assuming the dual role of Artistic Director and Education Director in 2007. From November 2010 through September 2011, Mitchell also served as Interim President of the Houston Festival Foundation. From 1989 to 1999, Mitchell was the popular music critic at the Houston Chronicle. During this period, he also taught journalism and music history courses at the University of Houston. Over the past 25 years, he has written for numerous national music magazines, and is the author of two books.
Ricky J. Martinez - Theatre
Ricky J. Martinez is New Theatre's Artistic Director who studied at the New World School for the Arts. An accomplished dancer and choreographer, Martinez has worked with top choreographers and even toured nationally as Don Quixote with the Boston Flamenco Ballet. As associate director, director and choreographer Martinez has worked in many productions, including numerous world premieres and top productions for young audiences. Martinez was Artistic Director for Hollywood Playhouse's Imagination Theatre Theater for Young Audiences as well as a founding member of Akropolis Acting Company, Juggerknot Theatre Co., Horizon's Repertory, and Om Project. He has also staged some of his own work, including a one-man show commissioned by the Miami Light Project, which traveled to Germany and was also part of the Florida-Brazil festival.
Dean Daderko - Visual Arts
Dean Daderko is a Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH). He has mounted curatorial projects in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Vilnius, Lithuania, among others. He has organized shows for some of New York’s most well-known alternative art spaces, including Art in General, Artists’ Space, Visual AIDS at La MaMa La Galleria, and The Kitchen. From 2000 to 2005, Daderko operated Parlour Projects, a non-commercial exhibition space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which presented important early exhibitions by artists such as Allora + Calzadilla, Lygia Clark, Forcefield, Andrea Geyer, Sharon Hayes, David Lamelas and Judi Werthein. Daderko was a graduate seminar instructor at Yale University School of Art, and a visiting curator at Centro de Investigaciones Artisticas in Buenos Aires, at Cooper Union School of the Arts in New York, and at M.I.T in Cambridge, MA.
For more information about Luminaria: Arts Come to Light, or to find updated information about the artist selection process, please visit the event website at www.LuminariaSA.org.