BlackStar Luminary Gala 2024

SECOND ANNUAL

BLACKSTAR LUMINARY GALA

DECEMBER 3, 2024

ABOUT THE LUMINARY GALA

BlackStar Projects is excited to host the second annual Luminary Gala, an unforgettable evening celebrating the luminaries shaping and shifting the arts, culture, and media landscape.

First held in 2023, the Gala has already become a can’t miss date on Philadelphia’s social calendar with artists, philanthropists, and BlackStar’s community of friends and supporters coming together to shine a light on our work and raise funds to sustain it.

The Luminary Awards, previously announced at the annual BlackStar Film Festival, are presented at the Gala to moving image artists, cultural workers, and collectives contributing to BlackStar’s vision of a more liberatory world. Past award recipients include:

• Telfar Clemens & Babak Radboy (2023)

• COUSIN Collective (2023)

• June Givanni (2023)

• Shannon Maldonado (2023)

• Mira Nair (2022)

• Melenik Shabazz (2021)

• Marcia Smith (2019)

• Ava DuVernay (2017)

• Julie Dash (2016)

• dream hampton (2015)

• RZA (2014)

• Howard University Film Program (2013)

Shannon Maldonado, 2023 Luminary Awardee

Photo by Dominique Nichole

THE 2023 LUMINARY GALA

“The most fun gala I’ve ever been to!”

—

Telfar Clemens, 2023 Luminary Award Winner

The 2023 Luminary Gala was a star-studded event, hosted by Bashir Salahuddin and Chandra Russell at the W Hotel in Philadelphia, with moving acceptance speeches from the night’s honorees, and electric musical performances by Laurin Talese and Durand Bernarr.

Watch the 2023 Luminary Gala recap video.

2023 Luminary Gala

Photos by Dominique Nichole

ABOUT BLACKSTAR

BlackStar creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside of the confines of genre.

Our programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders, and distributors. And, we curate every aspect of our events to be intentional community building efforts, connecting diverse audiences in a Black-led space centered on joy and thriving.

Bashir Salahuddin & Chandra Russell, 2023 Luminary Gala Hosts

Photo by Dominique Nichole

ABOUT BLACKSTAR

“We’re interested in pushing against the boundaries of form and believe moving image artists can be the architects of a more liberatory world.”

—

Maori Karmael Holmes, Chief Executive & Artistic Officer

Since its founding, BlackStar has expanded to meet the holistic needs of our audiences and now offers a suite of programming, as listed below:

• BlackStar Film Festival

• Curatorial Projects & Exhibitions

• The Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab

• Seen, a journal of film, art, and visual culture

• The William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar

• Many Lumens, a podcast

• Year-round programming

OUR IMPACT

— The Cut BlackStar centers cultural production as a vital component in rectifying historical imbalances for Black, Brown and Indigenous artists by creating economic, creative and community-building opportunities and focusing on cultural and relational repair.

“[BlackStar’s] Seminar is different from other workshops and seminars I participated in because of the diversity of people both leading and attending the sessions [and] an unequivocal anti-colonial and care centered approach to filmmaking…”

— 2024 Greaves Seminar Participant

“One of the foremost film festivals in the country.”

— The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The premiere destination for experimental artistic endeavors.”

“I like to liken BlackStar to the Freedom schools of the 1960s, and I feel they embody the spirit of popular education and liberation, drawing inspiration from a long history of efforts to empower marginalized and underrepresented communities through knowledge and storytelling.”

— Jon Sesrie-Goff

SPONSORSHIP

As a sponsor of the 2024 Luminary Gala, you will be directly investing in the sustainability of BlackStar’s efforts to rectify systemic imbalances in the media arts field and beyond.

Proceeds will support our mission to amplify the moving image as a transformative tool for social change and provide thoughtful investment in the creative freedom of Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists.

Our artist-centric and artist-led organization prioritizes building care-centered spaces for creatives of color, and offering the essential tools and support they need.

We know Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists are routinely strapped for resources, isolated in their creative processes, excluded from funding and other economic opportunities, and tasked with carrying the burden of diversity and representation.

At BlackStar, we work to address these unique, systemic challenges through an intentional and nuanced approach to programming, organizational structure, and strategic partnerships with valuesaligned individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Your investment as a sponsor enables us to further this crucial work.

2023 Luminary Gala Attendees

Photo by Dominique Nicole

$100,000 CONSTELLATION

$50,000 BEACON $25,000

• 20 tickets to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name and Logo on Digital and Printed Materials

• Premier Name + Logo Recognition onsite

• 30-second digital ad onscreen at the gala

• Full page ad in the program guide

• 10 All Access Passes to BSFF2025

• 15 tickets to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name and Logo on Digital and Printed Materials

• Prominent Name + Logo Recognition onsite

• 15 second digital ad onscreen at the gala

• Half page ad in the program guide

• 6 All Access Passes to BSFF2025

• 10 tickets to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name and Logo on Digital and Printed Materials

• Visible Name + Logo Recognition onsite

• Half page ad in the program guide

• 4 All Access Passes to BSFF2025

• 6 tickets to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name on Digital and Printed Materials

• Visible Name Recognition onsite

• 4 All Access Passes to BSFF2025

• 4 tickets to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name on Digital and Printed Materials

• 2 All Access Passes to BSFF2025

• 2 tickets to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name on Digital and Printed Materials

• 2 Virtual Passes to BSFF2025

• 1 ticket to Cocktail Hour + Benefit Program

• Name on Digital Materials

• 1 Virtual Pass to BSFF2025

JOIN US

Join our supporter community today as a BlackStar Luminary Awards Sponsor!

Become a part of one of the world’s most welcoming, inspiring, and collaborative organizations for filmmakers, writers, artists and cultural change makers of color. Support fiercely independent media and creators who are shaping and shifting the culture. Engage with our multicultural audience of tastemakers and influential attendees.

Questions? Please contact:

Catherine Lee

Senior Director of Development & Operations

catherine@blackstarfest.org

Michele Pierson Development Manager michele@blackstarfest.org

Laurin Talese, 2023 Luminary Gala Performer

Photo by Dominique Nichole