L.A.’s Latino Theater Company receives $9 million from national and local foundations to spearhead ‘National Latinx Theater Initiative’

Elizabeth Rainey and Rose Portillo in “Properties of Silence” (Photo – Theresa Chavez).

LOS ANGELES — ColoradoBoulevard.net:

Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company has been awarded a three-year, five-million-dollar award from the Mellon Foundation to spearhead the National Latinx Theater Initiative.

By News Desk

The National Latinx Theater Initiative will provide general operating support to Latinx anchor producing theaters and to local Latinx anchor producing theaters .
In addition, the initiative will offer a robust professional development component that will include annual grantee convenings, meetings of the Latinx theater field more broadly, consultations with the Nonprofit Finance Fund, and other opportunities for growth.

A total of 52 Latinx local and national anchor producing theaters were chosen, using a competitive peer review panel process.   Five of them are local.  One is in Pasadena., a This new re-granting program will boost the national profile of Latinx theater companies across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, disperse funds needed to pursue greater financial stability and nurture artistic voices in a post-pandemic landscape.

About Productions, Pasadena

In 1988, four collaborators — all fresh out of school at CalArts — endeavored to form a professional creative partnership that would give voice to unique, untold stories and cultural perspectives. About…Productions has built a reputation for innovative, award-winning theatrical productions and educational programs.

The itinerant company’s critically acclaimed interdisciplinary theaterworks have been seen extensively in Greater L.A., in the U.S. and Canada, and on national TV. We collaboratively create and present innovative original theaterworks with many of the region’s leading performing and visual artists to unearth and illuminate cultural histories of Latin America, the Southwest, California, and L.A.

About… Productions has produced 26 original theaterworks and 4 remounts of original productions. Some of the best known works include Evangeline, the Queen of Make-Believe; They Shoot Mexicans, Don’t They?; Properties of Silence; By the Hand of the Father; and L.A. Real.

In recent years, they have actively expanded community engagement via their Young Theaterworks educational program. This successful 18-year program serves L.A.’s highest risk students — introducing them to the power of writing.

Local Latinx Theater Initiative Grantees:

• About Productions ,145 North Raymond, Pasadena, CA
• Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, Santa Ana, CA
• Casa 0101, Los Angeles, CA
• Company of Angels, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
• Culture Clash, Los Angeles, CA

National Latinx Theater Initiative Funders:

In addition to the $5 million grant from Mellon, the initiative has received funding support from the Ford Foundation ($2 million over two years), the Rockefeller Brothers Fund ($750,000 over three years), the Joyce Foundation ($600,000 over three years), and the California Community Foundation. ($500,000 over two years) and an anonymous donor ($150,000 over two years).

The California Community Foundation has served as a public, charitable organization for Los Angeles County since 1915. The Ford Foundation invests in innovative ideas, visionary individuals, and frontline institutions advancing human dignity around the world. The Joyce Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation based in Chicago. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund advances social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable and peaceful world through grantmaking, convening, mission-aligned investing and leadership.