Today we’d like to introduce you to Debra Herrick & Arturo Heredia Soto.
Hi Debra & Arturo, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We’re an artist (Arturo) and writer-editor (Debra) duo. Together we launched Lum Art. We wanted to create an art magazine for this moment in time — here and now. Arturo has a fine art background and is a professional art director and exhibition designer. Debra has a PhD in Latin American literature and is a professional arts writer, journalist and editor. When we started Lum, we were thinking about how we could meaningfully contribute to our arts ecology. In our region, Santa Barbara/Ventura/San Luis Obispo counties there wasn’t a critically engaged contemporary art magazine, and we wanted to create that space. It has been a deeply collaborative project that relies on our distinct approaches to text, art and design.
Lum Art is a Santa Barbara-based contemporary art magazine for California’s Central Coast. Lum is independent and founded on a collaborative and open approach to arts writing. Through original stories and editorial curation, Lum aims to seamlessly blend the clarity of journalism with the power of art criticism. Lum’s online space and print magazine provide a forum for critical conversations, advocacy and discovery around art.
We launched Lum in 2018 with lumartzine.com and in 2020, Lum started publishing a biannual print magazine that is distributed widely throughout California, and especially in Santa Barbara, Ojai, San Luis Obispo and Ventura cultural hubs.
We have grown organically over the years, staying true to our independent identity and giving ourselves the space to evolve with intention. Our open and honest approach has helped us attract talented writers and artists to collaborate. We are incredibly proud of the roster of artists and writers that have contributed to Lum and it is that high level of critical integrity that has made Lum what it is.
Lum is also more than a magazine. We hold free and public artist talks and curator roundtables, we’ve curated shows and co-sponsored art events, and most recently, at the beginning of this year (2023), Lum joined the collective effort with the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation and many community members to reopen the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Funding is generally the biggest challenge though Lum has been fortunate to have generous community support and grants. But as printing costs continue to increase exponentially, we have to work harder to secure the funds that make Lum sustainable and FREE to the public — a core value of Lum is that it is free and accessible to all.
Another challenge we have faced head on is ensuring that Lum is a diverse, equitable and inclusive space. We carefully curate each issue in terms of artists and writers. Each issue of Lum is a collection of informed perspectives from artists/writers from diverse demographics, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA and people with disabilities, among other under-represented groups. Lum also awards an Arts Writing Fellowship and biannual Art Prize, both designated for artists/writers who are from under-represented groups.
Lum Issue 05 features art prize winner Vanessa Wallace-Gonzales on the cover, photographed by Brian Paumier.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In addition to being the editor-in-chief of Lum Art Magazine, Debra is also the associate editorial director at University of California, Santa Barbara and a features writer and photographer for Carpinteria Magazine.
Arturo is Lum’s art director and also the lead exhibition designer at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at University of California, Santa Barbara.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Digital copies of the magazine are available to read on our website, lumartzine.com, and we stock free print copies at galleries and cultural hubs throughout Santa Barbara, Ventura, Ojai, San Luis Obispo and select galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City, and others.
We have an easy way to support Lum through giving a one-time donation or joining one of our Friends of Lum membership and sponsor levels. You can learn more at lumartzine.com/shop.
We are also always looking for new advertisers! We welcome galleries from Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Central Coast and beyond to become advertising sponsors. It’s a great way to support the work we’re doing and to create tangible connections in the art community and market. For more information on advertising, visit lumartzine.com/advertise or contact [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: lumartzine.com
- Instagram: lumartmag
- Facebook: Lum Art Magazine
Image Credits
Lead photo of Debra and Arturo: Ingrid Bostrom Photography
