Sara Lucas

Lucas is a St. Louis raised, Brooklyn-based vocalist, guitarist, composer and educator.  With her groups LADAMA and Callers she has co-written and co-produced five albums of original music and toured internationally as an independent artist. Her voice has been described as "commanding" (NPR), "something to behold" (Pitchfork), and "hauntingly rich" (Pop Matters). Her music with Callers "absorbs...particulars to reach and heal a bigger hollowness" and has been dubbed “stark in execution, dazzling in effect” by Pitchfork. LADAMA has been named "a vivid montage of music of the Americas with irresistible spirit and universal appeal" on NPR’s All Things Considered, and their self-titled debut album, LADAMA, reached #1 on Amazon’s and Itunes’ Latin Charts. LADAMA’s 2018 TED talk and 2019 NPR Tiny Desk Concert have been viewed over a combined 300,000 times and their second album, OYE MUJER, premiered at VogueBrasil and was featured in NPR AltLatino. With LADAMA, Lucas has performed internationally and has been featured at Lincoln Center, SF JAZZ, Monterey Jazz Festival and WOMAD (UK) among other renowned festivals, and been the recipient of numerous awards and residencies.

Lucas is a 2014 OneBeat Fellow, a recipient of a NYC Women’s Fund For Media, Music and Theatre grant (with LADAMA, 2022) and Brooklyn Arts Council Grant for Community Support (2016). As a curriculum writer, youth facilitator and music educator she is committed to arts-integration programming in public education. She creates culturally-responsive pedagogy with a focus on music production and composition that has been implemented in diverse NYC classrooms. Her lessons with LADAMA and TeachRock were listed on the American Federation of Teachers's "Top Resources of 2021" list and her previous work with Urban Arts Partnership was presented at the American Sociological Association by GlassFrog as examples of successful culturally-responsive pedagogy used in the classroom.