To Our Partners in the 2025 Louisville Photo Biennial,

I want to thank each of you for the stellar work you did in organizing the exhibits and programming for the 2025 Louisville Photo Biennial.

This  was an incredible cooperative effort by the 54 galleries, museums, colleges, universities, and other cultural venues, and by all the photographic artists and curators whose work was shown.  You produced 64 exhibits, and over 60 receptions, artist talks and other participatory activities for the public to enjoy.  All of you contributed so generously of your time, talents, and resources. You have shown what we can do when we work together to promote the visual arts in this region.  You are the heart and soul of the Louisville Photo Biennial, and you made this year’s events the best we have ever experienced.

We were truly blessed to have Sam Abell as our Keynote speaker  (you can watch his talk by accessing it through our website,  LouisvillePhotoBiennial.com.)  He is a great story teller, and it was fascinating to learn about his  past and present, and the ways he created the elegant images for which he is so famous.  Sam was especially grateful to us for the opportunity to re-connect with so many of his friends and colleagues from Lexington and Louisville.  I have received a great deal of feedback from people who were inspired by his stories, his ideas, and his teaching style.  Sam is currently working on a two volume retrospective of his photographs, and we would like to bring him back in 2027 to help launch this.  

Special thanks to the Speed Museum for hosting the Keynote event, and to our board member, Marvin Young, who video recorded  Sam’s presentation.

Of course, we couldn’t have organized and publicized the 54 venues and over 60 exhibits without the  organizational skills, patience and persistence of Sam Miller. Her collection and management of the thousands of pieces of information which comes in from all our venues is the foundation of the Louisville Photo Biennial.

Elizabeth Spalding, and her 21 Skye Design team, including Grace Dringenburg, have once again created a beautiful program guide and website for us.  Their creativity in choosing, organizing, and presenting the photographic images and information has resulted in wide ranging visibility, and has been a tremendous asset in helping people attend our exhibits and events. We distributed almost 7000 of the guides.

I wish to especially thank to our Board of Directors and our volunteers, who continue to support all of our efforts with their creativity, time, and willingness to take on any number of tasks, which require hands-on activity.  In this regard, I want to point out the outstanding dedication and extra work performed by Julie Schweitzer, Fred DiGiovanni, David Modica, Diana Durham, Bob Hower, John Nation, Marcelle Gianelloni and C.J. Pressma, and David and Cindy Becker.  They all gave so much extra time and effort,  using their special talents to draw people together and accomplish our goals. 

All of us are very grateful for the generous financial support of our business sponsors, and all of the individual patrons who donated to help us make the 2025 Louisville Photo Biennial a reality and a success.

Thank you all, and congratulations on such a successful and wonderfully received Biennial.

Now it’s time to start work on the 2027 Louisville Photo Biennial, which will run from September 9 to November 14, 2027. 

Our challenge is to make the next one even better.

And together, we will.