A playspace to amplify the power of discovery and uncover originality with liberated imagination.
A TRANSFORMATIONAL SPACE FOR ALL ARTISTS
The Luminary Arts Center, formerly the Lab Theater, is a 12,500-square-foot warehouse turned performance space in the heart of the Minneapolis North Loop neighborhood with a long history as an accessible and affordable venue for arts organizations in the Twin Cities. Minnesota Opera stepped in to save this important resource for the arts community at a critical moment when performance spaces are increasingly at risk due to residential development and challenging financial models.
Following its acquisition of the space in 2019, MN Opera sought community input to inform its renovation and operating model and during the pandemic extensively renovated the storied space.
The Luminary Arts Center opened in fall 2022 as an affordable, accessible, and state-of-the-art venue that has both expanded MN Opera’s campus and fostered artistic creativity and the development of the next generation of Minnesota’s artistic leaders.
Today, the Luminary connects the company in new and profound ways to the richly diverse ecosystem of our local arts community, inviting artists across disciplines to have a home in which they feel safe to explore, take risks, and create. Through the Luminary, MN Opera encourages artistic growth and human connection with a flexible, inclusive playspace that amplifies the power of discovery in its creative community.
AN AFFORDABLE, STATE-OF-THE-ART PERFORMANCE VENUE
The Luminary Arts Center is an accessible, equitable, and affordable venue that supports the arts economy through a subsidized rental model for arts organizations with budgets of $5 million or less. Technical assistance, front of house management, box office and marketing support are provided for renting organizations who need it. To date, 92% of the Luminary’s renters are small nonprofits with budgets under $2.5 million.
The space was renovated to enable companies to bring their visions to life, leveraging state-of-the-
art sound and lighting systems and a 220-person seating capacity that offers both intimacy and scalability depending on the rental organization’s needs. The unique, multi-use space features a flexible floor plan suited for a wide variety of art forms, events, and audiences.
The size and width of the stage floor in its home configuration makes it uniquely well-suited for dance companies, which recently experienced the closure of a vital performance space. In the 2024–2025 season, dance companies account for 59% of all rental dates.
“We are incredibly grateful that there is a venue that can provide us with an affordable option to present dance theater. With the closing of the Cowles Center, we have been struggling to find a home for our performances.”
—Regina Peluso, Artistic Director Collide Theatrical Dance Company
RENOVATION HIGHLIGHTS
ENHANCED FRONT OF HOUSE FACILITIES AND IMPROVED AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE
• Upgraded exterior wheelchair ramp for better access to the entry
• Increased lobby size that is inviting as well as functional
• Upgraded, all-gender restrooms for increased access and traffic flow
• Expanded concessions
• Windowed façade with view to street
• Upgraded canopy lighting and gutters offering safe and dry entry
• Maximized versatility of space using flexible seating platforms with comfortable theater seats
ADDRESSED ALL STRUCTURAL AND MECHANICAL CONCERNS
• Structural improvements such as repairing mortar joints in walls, reinforcing back wall, and improvements to roof structural load
• Re-graded and re-paved alley for safety, water mitigation, and parking
• Added a freight elevator to improve efficiency and safety of load-in process
• All utilities fully divested from Itasca Building
• Update HVAC to post-COVID-19 standards, including ability to have a “purge” cycle
• Added robust security system with cameras, controlled access, and alarm
• Fire protection upgrade
IMPROVED THEATER & SUPPORT SPACES TO CREATE A SAFE, WELCOMING AND FLEXIBLE VENUE
• New sprung floor creating a safer environment for a variety of performers—including dancers
• Tension wire grid allowing increased efficiency and flexibility for event turn-around and a safer teaching arena
• Upgraded technology and control systems improving safety and rental value/appeal
• Improved dressing room and green room, creating accessible facilities for artists
• New acoustical treatments appropriate for a variety of performance disciplines
• Improved safety in all systems allows for potential use for technical theater training
Young Dance, 2024
Blake Nellis
INFORMED BY THE COMMUNITIES IT SERVES
The Luminary’s renovation plan and operating model was developed following an extensive community outreach process, including focus groups, community input sessions, and direct outreach with the dance, theater, disability, and BIPOC arts community.
A comprehensive accessibility plan was critical to the renovation and central to ensuring the space would align with the organization’s vision and mission. In 2021 and 2022, the Luminary convened an Accessibility Advisory group, leading to the Luminary Arts Center becoming a leader in providing essential accommodations for both patrons and performers.
All technical equipment is mobile. Control stations, normally fixed in the booth, can be set up in various locations throughout the Luminary, ensuring that design and stage management set-up is physically accessible. The Luminary stage is fully wheelchair accessible to performers as it operates without a platform. The Luminary remains the only performing arts space in the state that has an adult changing table, among many other accommodations such as curb-to-seat service and fully accessible stage support spaces. Noise reducing headphones are available to assist individuals with sensory sensitivities.
The impact of this community-informed approach and the Luminary’s resulting features is a space that is attractive to artists of all abilities and disciplines. Its value is proven by the repeat use of the space by satisfied renters. In the current season, the Luminary is hosting 28 distinct renters, including 14 returning from the 2023–2024 season.
“Interact has partnered with Minnesota Opera for a number of years and we consider them to be crucial to our mission as the Luminary Arts Center is one of the few venues in the Twin Cities that has a performance space that is truly accessible for our performing artists living with disabilities. The Luminary renovation was planned with a specific and thoughtful eye to accessibility, something that is of particular importance to Interact as our core artistic company has a wide variety of accessibility needs.”
—Joseph Price, Executive Director Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts
COMMUNITY IMPACT TO DATE
The Luminary Arts Center’s first three seasons have demonstrated that MN Opera is able to continue to support a legacy of innovation and collaboration in our performing arts community.
By the end of the 2024–2025 season, the Luminary is projected to have welcomed more than 45,000 audience members representing the rich diversity of the Twin Cities metropolitan region.
583 artists and crew 1,318 artists and crew 1,350 artists and crew
10,495
17,500
DIVERSITY
The Luminary Arts Center has become a Minneapolis home for arts organizations across the Twin Cities, with 58% of bookings comprised of arts companies based in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and surrounding areas.
• Of the 42 unique companies that have rented the Luminary, 37% are dance organizations, 24% are theater organizations, 20% are music organizations, and the remainder include local start-ups, businesses and multi-disciplinary arts.
• Occupancy by dance companies doubled in the third season, following the closure of the Cowles Center for Dance and Performance.
• Luminary audiences reflect the diversity of our community within 1% across ethnic groups, with two notable exceptions—the Luminary welcomed fewer audience members of Scandinavian or Western European descent, and greater numbers of Far Eastern and Southeast Asian descent.
• Of the organizations that have rented the Luminary, 51% are woman owned/led and 29% are BIPOC owned/led.
Kurt Gough of Shelter Architecture, the MN Opera’s partner in the Luminary renovation, commented on the reciprocity that occurs when large and small organizations work together to create an ecosystem:
“I’ve heard the analogy that a healthy arts community is like a rainforest—its upper canopy provides shelter and space for the lower layers so that it can thrive and, in turn, offer energy and nutrients back to the upper canopy.”
MN Opera is grateful for the community support that empowers us to offer space and support for smaller organizations so that they might contribute to and support the next generation of performers and technicians here in Minnesota. We look forward to seeing just how we can support our arts ecosystem in the years to come.
AWARD-WINNING DESIGN
AIA Minneapolis Merit Award - 2024
This honor is bestowed upon projects designed by AIA (American Institute of Architects) designated Minneapolis architects that exemplify “excellence beyond design, emphasize public-interest design, and embrace the varied forces that shape a building.”
ASID National Community FOCUS Award - 2024
American Society of Interior Designers FOCUS Awards recognize projects designed with intent for impact. The Community FOCUS award is bestowed upon a project that responds to challenges around community cohesion & resilience.
A SUSTAINABLE OPERATING MODEL
The Luminary Arts Center is designed to operate on a net-neutral model, where rental, parking, concessions, and facility fees cover Minnesota Opera’s operational costs. In just the third season of its start-up phase, the model is achieving 93.5% of that goal.
From left to right, top to bottom: Youth Opera Showcase, MN Opera, 2024 © Steven Garcia. Adventure to New Classical with J.D. Steele, Schubert Club, 2023 © Galen Higgins. Art of We , Upstream Arts, 2024 © Jason W. Bucklin. Nymphs, Spinners, Witches , MN Opera, 2025 © Galen Higgins.
Karma: A Bollywood Circus , SAATH, 2024 © Vishwanath Somashekhar. The Great Gatsby , Collide Theatrical Dance Company, 2023 © Alexis Lund.
LUMINARY RENTERS*
Amanda Brinkman
ARENA Dances
Ballet Co. Laboratory
Candlelight Concerts
Cantus
Collide Theatrical Dance Company
Composers Now / American Composers Forum
Crash Dance Productions
DanSan Creatives
Elektra Cute Presents
Great Northern Festival
Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts
Just Being Me Dance Inc.
Kaitlyn Gilliland
Minnesota Dance Theater
Minnesota Opera
MIXTAPE Dance
MPLS (imPulse)
Out on a Limb Dance Theater Company & School
Patrick Henry High School / MN Zej Zog
Ritika Ganguly
Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists (SPCPA)
Schubert Club
Sherry Walling - Mental Health Circus
South Asian Art and Theater House (SAATH)
STRONGMovement Dance
Teatro del Pueblo
Ten Thousand Things
The Danger Committee
The Playwrights' Center
Theater Mu
Threads Dance Project
Tommy Ward
Trademark Theater
Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus
Twin Cities Start Up Week (Beta.MN)
Upstream Arts
Vibe'd
Young Dance
zAmya Theater
Zenon Dance *As of February 2025
"Your team, as ever, was kind, generous, thoughtful, and hard working. I can’t think of better facilities and event management than Luminary."
—Tyler Michaels King, Founder & Artistic Director
Trademark Theater
A VITAL CAMPUS EXPANSION
In addition to its impact as a performance home for the small theater, dance, and musical organizations that occupy the space 80% of the year, the Luminary Arts Center has become the linchpin for the access, artist and impact driven work of the MN Opera. It serves as the space for development hub programs such as the Resident Artist Program, MNOP+ recital series, and the New Works Initiative, and a resource for the company’s Impact programs. It’s also allowed MN Opera to produce operatic repertoire ideally suited to intimate spaces, including its inaugural performance of Handel’s Rinaldo , its 50th world premiere, The Song Poet , by Jocelyn Hagen and Kao Kalia Yang, and a double bill of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and Christopher Weiss and John de los Santos’ Service Provider .
MN Opera is committed to the Luminary as a creative development asset, a training and professional development asset, a community connection and learning asset, and an affordable resource so every story can find its voice.
The Song Poet , MN Opera, 2023 © Cory Weaver
The Luminary Arts Center is owned and operated by the Minnesota Opera.
For rental inquiries, contact Luminary Arts Center Director Julia Gallagher at jgallagher@mnopera.org.
For more information about how you can support this critical resource to the Twin Cities arts community, contact Minnesota Opera VP, Advancement, Lani Willis at lwillis@mnopera.org.