Liminal Space Art Collective is a group of Santa Cruz artists building bridges and dreaming of the future through interactive and immersive art. After covid surges had atomized the already fractured art community of Santa Cruz, Liminal Space grew from a small regular art meetup with the goal of cultivating a space for connection. In 2022, Liminal got the chance to build community by re-imagining the old Circle Church on the west side as an art events venue and home for artist collaboration. Over a hundred artists contributed to the incredible events we hosted there, building lasting friendships along the way. Since then, Liminal has thrown parties alongside Idea Fab Labs, filled the atrium at the MAH, collaborated with the Natural History Museum, built giant mushrooms for the Mushroom Festival, and much more. Our community of 150+ artists continues to grow and learn, to build community and to imagine a better world through our co-creative process.

This year, in an effort to support the arts scene, Cruzio went looking for an art group to fill their unused space. Sonya Campbell, a facilitator of the collective and member of the Cruzio team, suggested Liminal as the organization which might make the most of the opportunity. In the weeks after a residency agreement was made, we worked to transform a corner office into a beautiful and calming art gallery. We drew people into the building for our October First Friday event, which showcased art by individual collective members as well as more collaborative pieces. The event was a fantastic success, with a full room for nearly the entire night, and many new connections made. Community members read about First Friday events in the newspaper and came to chat. They saw giant sculptures and tiny paintings, wondered at dioramas, and added to the collaborative canvas we had prepared. Since then, we’ve been working to add even more art to the Cruzio space, and to decorate for our upcoming Halloween-themed event!

The holiday for costumes and friends is just around the corner, and as you make your plans, don’t forget to stop by the Cruzio building downtown to join our Halloween First Friday event! On Friday, November 1st, from 6-10pm, Liminal and Cruzio are collaborating once again to create an exciting and spooooky space! Since our October 4th gallery showing, we’ve redecorated – there’s more art to see, more fun to be had, and a lot more decorations in the spirit of the season. For anyone seeking a last minute addition to their costume, Kiara Leonardich will also be offering facepainting! Whether you were present for the October show or not, this party is an event we want you to see.

We’re always excited for the chance to create spaces like this for connection, and the work of our amazing team of volunteers and supporters takes each event to the next level. If you’re interested in helping to cultivate spaces for immersive and collaborative art, we are always looking to add more perspectives to our work, and more artists to our team. We’re passionate about creating a Santa Cruz community which values art as a mode of connection. We are working hard to connect with more people and organizations who share our vision of the future. In order to build that future, after all, we have to do it together. To hang out with us, make art together, or discuss how you want to support our connective work, please email us. → connect@limi.space ← We want to hear about what you’ve been dreaming.

-Written by Rose Klein