Newcity Stage: This past Monday, a day that the United States has set aside each year to celebrate a genocidal murderer who may reasonably be seen as the beginning of white terror in the Americas, The Alliance of Latinx Theatre Artists (ALTA) held their inaugural award ceremony. The significance of the date was not lost on speech-makers and nominees.
3 comments:
It makes my heart jump with joy to read that there are people like me out there doing the things that they are passionate about and making their ways. Getting awards and the recognition they deserve. It is really important to have spaces to celebrate inclusivity. This is a key factor in the fight against racism and those folks who believe in oppressing anything that is not white. Like they mentioned in the article, theatre is a space for inclusivity. It makes the art richer, and deeper. By expanding the staff, you expand the audience spectrum, and therefor expand the art itself. It not only provides employment for people of diverse backgrounds, but it allows minorities to succeed and achieve in the arts. Representation matters, and being able to see people who look like oneself “win” in the eyes of society, makes other people believe they can do so to.
It's so great to see latinx theatrical artists getting the recognition they deserve! It may seem a little silly, but awards and recognition are an important part of being in this industry. Not only does it validate often overlooked work, but it increases visibility of latinx artists to the rest of the industry. One question I did have about this program was how nominations work. The article did not go into depth about the qualification and selection process, but the list of awardees showed people from across the country. Is it a write in campaign? Is it for professional productions only? Do you pitch your work to the organization directly? Either way, it's great to be able to put names to some of the leading latinx theatre artists. It's also interesting to learn about new works about the latinx experience. I would be interested to see where/how this program expands in the future.
Diversity and inclusion of minorities was not a well talked about topic until a couple years ago when it became a problem. I think that this awards ceremony is a great way to start recognizing the people who aren't being seen and heard by the mainstream audience. I am happy that there is more representation in the entertainemnt industry in general because for so long it was just a couple people telling similar stories. Now, there is a wide range of stories that represent a lot of people across the board and each person can find something that they relate too. Growing up it was hard for me to find representation in the media but now it is easier and it makes me happy that it only seems to be getting better and this awards ceremony recognizes the people who are pushing forward and writing more stories about different people.
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