Show, don't tell
Every term ends in a public artifact — a film, an app, a performance, a publication. Students ship real work to real audiences.
Established 2008
We're building the creative campus the next century needs.
Luminary Institute is an independent academy in Brooklyn, NY, where 1,200+ artists, engineers, designers and storytellers learn by shipping ambitious work alongside working professionals.
Mission
Make rigorous creative education radically accessible.
We believe the best learning happens at the seam between disciplines. A film student sits next to a coder; a sound designer mentors a dancer. Every program at Luminary ends with a public showing — a screening, a launch, a performance — because work that doesn't ship doesn't teach.
Sixteen years in, our graduates have started 84 companies, won 31 international awards, and teach the next wave of students. That's the loop we care about.
What we stand for
Four principles, every day.
Mix the disciplines
Our campus is deliberately small enough that coders eat with choreographers and writers share studios with product designers.
Mentor over lecture
All 142 faculty are active practitioners. They teach because they want to give back what the industry gave them — not because it's a quiet desk job.
Open the door
68% of students receive financial aid. Talent matters more than the check you can write.
Leadership
The people behind Luminary.
AO
Dr. Amara Okafor
President & Co-founder
MR
Mateo Rivera
Dean of Faculty
YT
Yuki Tanaka
Director of Research
PS
Priya Shah
Chief Operating Officer
Come see the campus.
Tours run every Tuesday and Thursday. Sit in on a class, meet a faculty member, and see what a Luminary studio actually feels like.