Luminato artistic director to depart following 2023 festival

Naomi Campbell, artistic director of Luminato Festival since 2018, will be stepping down following the 2023 festival.

In a written statement, Campbell, who has been involved with the organization since 2011, shared her belief that it is time for her to “move on,” “to make space for new projects” and for someone else to lead Luminato’s programming team.

Campbell said in her message that by sharing this news now, it leaves “plenty of time” for Luminato to find a successor and “make the best transition together.”

In an interview following this announcement, Campbell expressed an overwhelming fondness for the festival and for her time at its helm.

“As somebody who spent my entire life as a freelancer, 10 years is a very long time in one place,” she said. “Obviously, it’s been really amazing. But I also think five years in the artistic director role is a really good run of it … it’s the kind of job that actually needs refreshing, and somebody maybe younger than me might be better suited for the next round.”

Campbell has spent three of her five years as artistic director reckoning with the pandemic in some way — and the festival’s not been immune to publicity crises during that time — but overall, Campbell feels “really good” about her time with the organization, and looks forward to passing it off to her successor.

“I’m really interested in succession, and how you do succession,” she said.

By announcing her departure early, Campbell feels there will be enough time for her unannounced successor to put their own mark on the festival in their first year.

“We’ll find the right balance.”

Campbell has faith in the future of the organization, both in terms of the art it produces and the internal staff it employs.

“I hope the festival will continue to be really embedded in Toronto,” she said. “Not just downtown Toronto, but all of Toronto … Hamilton to Oshawa, or Mississauga to Oshawa … but I also hope that the international component of the festival will be able to return in a more fulsome way.”

Major touring shows were a cornerstone of Luminato pre-pandemic — and as a future audience member, Campbell believes it’s important Luminato return to what she believes is that tradition of touring excellence.

“That’s always been a really important part of the festival — our ability to bring in visionary, large-scale works from other parts of the world … and I’m hoping it can even be a more embedded, deepened experience than we’ve been able to manage in the last few years.”

In terms of organizational growing pains, Campbell said the festival has been making conscious efforts to function not only reactively, but proactively. For instance, Luminato has created a more welcoming environment for employees with young children, Campbell said, and more changes and initiatives are forthcoming.

“We want to make the avenues really available for people to have honest and clear conversations,” said Campbell. “I’ve seen that at work … it’s really crucial we make sure everybody feels safe and respected and good for everybody. If it’s good for everybody who works here, it’s good for the artists we work with.”

“Most of what we do is in service of the artists.”

CEO Celia Smith said in an interview that she’s newly discovering what Luminato is and needs to be moving forward, especially now, given Campbell’s departure.

“We’re in service to many, many artists in our community, to bring them together. That’s what we exist to do: bring them together,” she said.

“And it’s not just Luminato,” she continued. “We work with dozens of other organizations … we rarely do things by ourselves. So we have to be collaborators. And what we bring is maybe a bigger spotlight, or a different audience or a different stage for a piece of work.”

“I am interested in the world stage for our work from here … Canadian artists have the talent to share with the world. We have the stories and the perspectives that the world wants to hear. So it’s very porous to me — and that’s what I’m interested in.”

In Campbell’s words, her final festival at Luminato will be “enchanting, inspiring and significant,” though details about the 2023 festival have not yet been announced.

“The hardest part about making this decision was telling my colleagues,” said Campbell. “It’s an amazing team of people.”

“But I feel like I will be very proud to leave at this moment with the work that I’ve done.”

SHARE: