The mission of the LUX Center for the Arts is to provide exceptional art experiences including art classes, residence programs, gallery exhibitions and community outreach. The LUX strives to provide a welcoming atmosphere for our diverse community, regardless of age, skill level or income.

LUX Center for the Arts is truly Lincoln's community arts center, a vital resource for the visual arts in Nebraska.

The LUX offers year-round art classes for children, youth and adults in ceramics, painting, drawing, glass, mixed media, and metals/jewelry. The quality of instruction sets the LUX apart. Classes are taught by artist/teachers in our Artist-in-Residence program, which each year brings four professional, well-educated, emerging artists/teachers to Lincoln to teach, in exchange for studio space, materials, and a solo exhibition.

Our outreach programs expand our community impact.   Our mobile art program — the Art Van deLUX — was developed to provide art-making classes and workshops to low-income school children and the elderly, Alzheimer's patients, cancer survivors, incarcerated youth, and other groups. Two outreach programs stand out – the classes we provide to four Title 1 Lincoln Elementary schools and the classes we provide to incarcerated children at Lancaster County Youth Services, supported by your donations and our community partners.

The LUX holds a sterling reputation as a place to view and experience challenging, stimulating art. Recent exhibitions included artists Charley Friedman, Ryan Crotty, Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez, Gail Kendall and more. Each month, we feature new exhibitions from local, regional and national artists. Nearly 14,000 visited our galleries in 2016/17, and First Friday events are always well attended.

The LUX houses the LUX Print collection, a collection of 400 prints collected by founder Gladys Lux. A part-time curator supported in part by the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation, maintains the prints and produces four exhibitions in the LUX Print Gallery each year. These exhibitions provide an opportunity for the community to see artwork by some of the most significant artists of the early and mid twentieth century.

History

Now in its 40th year, LUX Center for the Arts was organized as the University Place Art Center in 1977 to provide a cultural focal point for the University Place neighborhood. In 1987, the center moved to its current location, the old University Place city hall located at the corner of N. 48th Street and Baldwin. Benefactor, artist, and arts educator Gladys M. Lux purchased and donated the building for arts education purposes. In 2000, the center purchased an adjacent building and created classrooms and studios to improve its ability to offer quality programs. We honored Gladys Lux by renaming the center to reflect her generosity.

In June 2017, the first phase of our Capital Campaign was completed, adding a parking lot and a new Ceramics Center, with two new classrooms — the Lee and Debbie Stuart Foundation Handbuilding Studio and and WRK Family Foundation Wheel Throwing Studio. These new classrooms doubled the amount of classroom space at the LUX. The Ceramics Center also features a plaster room, a kiln room, a glaze room, a space for future outdoor kilns and the Steve Wake Student Gallery. Four new artists-in-residence studios were also created. The second phase of the Capital Campaign will begin in early 2018, renovating our historic 103-year-old main building, including our galleries, classrooms and offices and updating heating, cooling and electrical systems. 

Together with our public, private and foundation partners, the LUX Center offers a broad range of art appreciation and educational opportunities for people in Lincoln and surrounding areas, with plans to do so for another 40 years.