The Luminary Announces New Staff Structure

5.31.2023

The Luminary expands the team to five with an expanded role of Artistic and Executive Director, the hire of a new Executive Assistant, the appointment of a new full-time Fellow, and defining Black Coffee. as a Community Engagement Partner

The Luminary is pleased to announce the expansion of its staff with new roles and solidified partnerships with pre-existing collaborators. This is the first time in the organization’s history that it is entirely artist-led.

We are pleased to announce Kalaija Mallery is expanding her role to Artistic and Executive Director of The Luminary

Kalaija Mallery has worked as the Artistic Director since November 2022 and previously as the Gallery Manager from March of 2020. Her expanded vole as Artistic and Executive Director continues her passion and vision for the organization through a combination of creative visioning, operational oversight, and development.

Her work over the last three years has centered around the growth of The Luminary as a potential third-place: a space between oppositions, localities, and individuals where connections are fostered and futures are realized. She has achieved this through the creation of a bookshop and DIY publication studio inside of the gallery, the expansion of the studio-member program, the stewarding of the Futures Fund (an annual regranting initiative supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts), the reinstatement of the Arts Advisory Board, crafting several professional development programs, and her involvement and participation in the local arts ecosystem as a conceptual artist, independent curator, and active resident of Benton Park West.

Kalaija began her role as Artistic and Executive Director in April of 2023. Her strategic planning has led The Luminary to restructure the team to include new staff as well as a fellow and a community partnership. She is focused on growing the capacity and use of The Luminary building meaningfully and purposefully in its support of the arts community over the next several years.

“I look forward to continuing my vision and the growth of the organization by increasing its internal capacity and sustainability while maintaining The Luminary’s track record as a major cultural epicenter for Contemporary Art in St. Louis and beyond. We achieve this through intersectional, interdisciplinary, and interrelational artistic studies and practices that result in exhibitions, residencies, professional development programs and partnerships that have a national, international, and local impact.”

We welcome Alex Dyer as Executive Assistant to the organization.

Alex brings her past experience in the business office at Saul Mirowitz Jewish school in St. Louis, where she worked closely with the school’s operations and development to execute the advancement of the school’s policies, procedures, and fundraising. Prior to her work at the school, Alex worked at COCA and STAGES St. Louis, and her love for the arts is rooted in her passion for social justice, community-building, collaborative art, and storytelling. She is an artist and performer with a strong connection and pride in the St. Louis art and LGBTQ+ community.

As Executive Assistant, Alex will ensure the management and upkeep of The Luminary’s administrative office and operations, and lend support to the organization’s development and giving initiatives. She looks forward to supporting the work and mission of The Luminary and collaborating with this team and the surrounding community.

We invite Brianna McIntyre into the organization through the inaugural year-long program: The Wayfinding Fellowship, with a focus on exploring Institutional Architecture.

This year-long Fellowship at The Luminary utilizes the structure of discovery, experiential learning, and creative visioning through systems thinking and empathetic design. Working closely with the organization’s Artistic & Executive Director, Brianna will assist the organization as it invests in its physical space and internal infrastructure, to better pillar and platform its mission. Over the course of a year, she will be guided through a set of research and design projects and focus-group discussions with the Director around predetermined goals. The program is designed to support experiential learning: with emphasis on direct experience and focused reflection, and the outcome of sustaining a pipeline for future roles in arts administration.

The fellowship is built around a conceptual model of Wayfinding: a long used method of travelers over land and sea to orient themselves, or provide further guidance within, unmarked or often mislabeled environments. This definition is expanded in artist Chloë Bass’s project, Wayfinding first exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, later at The Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, and currently at the Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Following a process of orientation, route decision, monitoring, and destination recognition, the fellowship honors the charting of one’s route as a practice rooted in process, adaptation, and presence.

As a visual artist, entrepreneur, and St. Louisian, Brianna investigates social and political identities through her critical spatial practice and research. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Brianna’s work is rooted in fiber art and object design while moving in tandem with interior architecture. She is the co-founder of Occupy Vacancy, a public art initiative within the Vandeventer neighborhood, and a recent RAC grant recipient. Her commitment to art and design, combined with her experience as a licensed realtor, gives Brianna balanced insight into how to improve our productive use within space while embracing beauty, joy, and healing as key products of a highly functional environment.

We are proud to share the official partnership of Black Coffee. with The Luminary.

Initially engaged as a pop-up vendor and later as a tenant, Aloha Mischeaux has collaborated with the organization through her independently led business, Black Coffee., since September 2021. Aloha’s commitment to the organization and the growth of The Luminary has helped us to grow into the arts-centered, holistic and cohesive community space that we are today. We are proud to share that we have solidified this partnership in serving the community on Cherokee Street, enabling Black Coffee. to utilize The Luminary as a hub for sustainable growth, while mutually supporting the organization through the business’s vital role in bringing people together.

Aloha, in addition to stewarding Black Coffee., is a genre jumping musician and a whimsical punk creative. She is always discovering ways to connect music, art and community in her own way. Her commitment to creating positive change both within and beyond the music industry has solidified her reputation as an influential figure and a source of inspiration for aspiring artists and community leaders alike.

We are pleased to have Kellen Wright continue their work as Gallery Manager with the newly expanded team.

Kellen Wright has been the Gallery Manager since January 2023 working closely with Kalaija Mallery to support the exhibitions and public programs through research, installation, and facilitation. They have thrived as a connector and producer of artistic vision and community building.

Kellen earned their BA in Art History and Criticism from Webster University in St. Louis Missouri in May of 2022, following the completion of their undergraduate thesis entitled: Rachel Whiteread: Between Space and Place. Additionally, Kellen has worked in museums and other public institutions across St. Charles and St. Louis City and County including the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Mildred-Lane Kemper Art Museum, and the St. Louis Art Museum as a Curatorial Intern in Prints, Drawings and Photography. As Gallery Manager of The Luminary, Kellen brings great enthusiasm and joy to The Luminary, its programming, and the communities it serves.

The LuminaryMay 31, 2023