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2025 Residency Open Call
 
 

The Luminary 2025 Residency Open Call supports creative practitioners who engage with the pressing issues of our time. As a residency focusing on process and research, The Luminary will provide two cohorts of  individuals, small collectives, and collaborations with the space and time to rest, reflect and relate around a line of inquiry. The intention is that residents can focus on their research process, free of expectation of a final product. The Luminary welcomes national and international applicants of all backgrounds, such as artists, curators, writers, designers, educators, and arts administrators. Non-traditional backgrounds are welcome.

 
 

 About the residency

 
 

  • In addition to time and space, each resident receives a weekly stipend for their project and funded travel to The Luminary in St. Louis. The Luminary has a three-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with a full kitchen, dining area, living room, and free laundry. The apartment is located above the gallery on Cherokee Street, a small business corridor with restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, and bars. Please note that St. Louis is not very accessible by public transportation, so make a plan for your day-to-day travel around the city.

    This residency is largely self-directed and process-based. There is no expectation of a final product or outcome. However, if desired, there is an opportunity to work with The Luminary's team to engage with the St. Louis community through coffee dates, studio visits, small-scale programming, etc.

  • Our open call residency is offered in sessions: one in Spring, and one in Fall. Cohorts of three will be selected, with the opportunity to engage as a group with The Luminary’s staff for visits to local art-centers, studios, and destinations around the city. One coffee/orientation will be held at the start of the residency, one group dinner will be held at the end. Residents are encouraged to spend time together, or individually, as they desire.

    Cohorts will be grouped based on determined availability, stated interests, and goals. In recognizing the residency as an opportunity for creative networking and community building across cities, states, and nations– cohorts will be designed to support sharing across disciplines and locales.

    It is not required, but may be helpful, to consider the following research elements as they are engaged in our exhibitions calendar, if it aligns with your interests:

    SPRING: Personal memory, identity, place, intimacy, transformation. Photography, sculpture, & architecture. Gender and domestic spaces.

    FALL: Diaspora, Memory, Resistance, Homeland. Sculpture, video, performance. Memoricide and resilience

  • The Luminary is dedicated to creating a collaborative, interdisciplinary, intergenerational space.

    While we review applications from MA, MFA, and Ph.D. students, we encourage these applicants to consider their capacity as this residency requires time spent in St. Louis for their project.

  • The timeline for the 2025 application will be announced in summer of 2025.

  • Applicants must apply via Submittable. The application will request basic information, two brief responses, and submission for work samples via a single PDF or website links.

    There is an application fee of $15. The application fee funds the administrative processing of the residency application and goes directly to compensate the jurors for their time and expertise . However, we also realize that an application fee can be a barrier to applying. For more information or to ask questions regarding the residency process and accessibility, please contact Kellen Wright at kellen@theluminaryarts.com.

    Kellen Wright, Artist Projects Coordinator, will perform an initial review of applications, screening for eligibility. Alongside The Luminary staff, jurors Misa Jeffereis, Mojdeh Razaeipour, and Scott Campbell will choose the residents based on a rubric built on equity, the rigor of research proposed, and the potential for affinities between selected residents.

    For more information or to ask questions regarding the residency process and accessibility, please contact Kellen Wright at kellen@theluminaryarts.com.

  • Misa Jeffereis, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

    Scott Campbell, Independent Curator, head of Midwestern Programming at ICI

    Mojdeh Razaeipour, Artist, past resident

 
 
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Residency
FAQ

This residency says it focuses on artistic research. I'm an artist, can I apply for a studio project? 

At this time, The Luminary does not have studio or performance space available for open-call residencies. We hope to fund practitioners in the research and development portion of their creative cycle, allowing artists space and time to ideate and plan for their studio work.

 

Is The Luminary ADA-compliant and barrier-free?

While The Luminary's gallery, common area, and bookshop are ADA compliant, The Luminary's residency apartment is not. Residents must be able to climb a flight of stairs; the bathroom is not wheelchair accessible. For any questions about accessibility and accommodations, please contact Kellen Wright, kellen@theluminaryarts.com.

The application fee is $15. Can I have a fee waiver?

The application fee funds the administrative processing of the residency application and goes directly to the jurors for their stipends. However, we also realize that an application fee can be a barrier to applying. You can send a request to kellen@theluminaryarts.com and receive a link to the application, waiving the fee.

Can collaborative teams apply?

Yes, however, the stipend will still be the same per week. The Luminary's residency apartment has three bedrooms and one bath, so apply accordingly. 

Can students apply?

We do consider applications from current MFA, MA, and Ph.D. students. Note that the program's commitment is intensive and may not be suitable for a student's capacity. We do not encourage BFA and BA students to apply.

Can St. Louis-based artists apply?

The Luminary's open-call residency program is for practitioners based outside of St. Louis.

Please click here for information on Futures Fund, a grant program dedicated to funding St. Louis-based creatives for visual arts projects. 

What is the community of St. Louis like?

St. Louis has an active arts community with many galleries, DIY spaces, and free museums. The Luminary is located in an active urban environment with access to public transit, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and public parks. There are many options to get involved in the greater arts community, and The Luminary's team is happy to facilitate conversations. 

May I bring my pets?

Pets are not allowed in the residency apartment. However, service pets are allowed if notified ahead of your residency.

Can my family stay with me?

While The Luminary has a legacy of supporting artist-parents and families, the artist-parent residency is on pause for this year’s open call. Thank you for understanding.

 
 

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT US AT:

kellen@theluminaryarts.com