Lum Art Magazine
Editor & Founder: Debra Herrick, PhD
Heidi: You’re about to celebrate your 5th year anniversary of Lum Art, how has this project surprised you and what are your hopes for 2022?
Yes, this coming summer will be five years since we started Lum’s online forum, lumartzine.com. We started publishing the print magazine a bit later, in 2020.
Lum has surprised me in the way that it has found a niche in the community where it really resonates; and in some ways, and I hope this is true, this project my husband Arturo and I started five years ago now has a life of its own.
I’ve also been struck by how many talented people have collaborated with and contributed to Lum. It’s been incredible to be a part of a project that brings together so many different kinds of talent. I think I’m also surprised by how much I’ve personally grown in the process, especially as an arts editor and a publisher.
In 2022, I hope to see Lum continue to have a place in the community and to grow with the current moment.
The forced repose of 2020-2021 impacted all of us, did you see creativity as a coping tool info creating hope?
This is a hard question. I think for some artists, creative endeavors were helpful in coping. I think it was also bittersweet for some who were grateful to have more time and less distractions, but also struggled with anxiety or solitude. In our case, having Lum as a creative project was really grounding during quarantine. I think we benefitted from having purpose and goals as well.
We tried to approach our stories last year with an awareness that times were strange. I think that threadline is palpable in each issue. But I think that if Lum created hope, it was through following through with our plans to publish the biannual print magazine. Many projects – especially in the art world – were being shuttered. We published on a shoestring, but we decided to keep going and stay present. We hoped that Lum would be a source of connection and community for people, especially during a time when many were feeling disconnected.
Who was recently awarded from your latest fundraiser in Santa Barbara? The ping pong competition was a hit!
Our first benefit event was awesome. We threw a Ping Pong Paella Party on Dec. 4, and we raised $10,000 to underwrite our print mag and two new programs: a biannual art prize and an arts writing fellowship, both to be awarded to individuals from historically underrepresented communities including BIPOC and people with disabilities.
Our first art prize winner is Vanessa Wallace-Gonzales and the 2022 arts writing fellow is Ryan P. Cruz.
How many times do you publish?
We publish the print magazine twice a year. The electronic version can be read on lumartzine.com. The print mag is free and can be ordered in our shop (there’s a cost for shipping & handling) or you can email me for a list of where to pick one up in the Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo area.
How do artist and writers connect with you?
Email is usually best, editor@lumartzine.com.
