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The Luminaria Festival dazzled downtown San Antonio Saturday night at Hemisfair Park.
The annual festival is an immersive experience put on by artists from San Antonio, Texas and around the country.
Mauro De La Tierra is one of the artists whose work was on display.
“Being here is a very surreal experience, especially because of my upbringing," De La Tierra told TPR. "I grew up on the East Side of San Antonio and I felt like there wasn’t a lot of resources to do art, so getting to do this here is a very inspirational thing and a big milestone for me personally.”
George Cisneros, Music and Media Director at Urban 15, has been participating in Luminaria since the inaugural festival in 2008.
"San Antonio realizes that it has an innate sense of creativity and imagination," Cisneros told TPR. "What we do is try to stimulate people into thinking and perceiving and enjoying light and sound and movement in different ways."
Kate Harmon and her family participated in Luminaria for the first time this year. She did some painting for one of the exhibits and enjoyed many more — including the appearance of Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl on a journey to raise awareness of the challenges migrants and refugees face in the U.S.
"That was really unique to see," Harmon said. "My daughter was painting when [Little Amal] reached out to her and got her attention. So that made my heart melt."
Raisa Melendez, one of Luminaria's featured artists, said she was inspired by the community's turnout to her immersive painting exhibition.
"I'm really happy to see how much people want to paint — even if it's just for a little moment — they're going to be a part of this painting now," she said.
Melendez is originally from Puerto Rico and is proud to call San Antonio home and have her work on display at Luminaria.
"I really embrace the San Antonio community because it's really about family and tradition but also about evolving in different ways, expressing differences," she said.
