MP7: ALACI: Afro-Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous Performance

Collaborative Goals

This Working Group focuses specifically on theater and performance as tools to address challenging questions related to racism, marginalizations, and social injustices. By prioritizing (Afro)Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous performances and their impact within Latin American cultures and the United States, we aim to highlight the beauty and intensity of these aesthetic forms, educate and raise awareness in our community and learn from each other about the wide variety of (Afro)Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous performance practices.

ALACI will have two specific collaborative goals: 1. To share and grow in our knowledge of multifaceted (theater, dance, other) performanc practices that highlight race, ethnicity, gender, and marginalized communities. We will do this by meeting as a group for discussions of specific existing performances and inviting guest speakers and performers with expertise in this field to expand our knowledge. 2. We will also solicit short original student/faculty performances from ALACI member CNY institutions that highlight diversity, equity, and social justice. These will be performed once per year on one or more CNY campuses in a type of CNY ALACI/PICS (Performing Identities Across Cultures) performance festival.

Our project is modeled after the transnational Spanish/Latin American short-form theater network Microteatro, which hosts multiple 15-minute performances on rotating, regionally important themes each month and also provides spaces and opportunities for spectators and artists to discuss and reflect on those topics as a community. Thus, the goals are to explore the nexus between theory and practice in (Afro)Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous performances and to promote critical thinking around issues of race and (in)equities as well as the crucial role of the arts in exposing and addressing these.