With a planning grant from the Mellon Foundation, the LTCo convened an 11-member national Steering Committee for the NLTI, comprised of acknowledged leaders from the Latinx theater community. These members were chosen for their expertise, years in the field, and ability to see the big picture and needs of the sector as a whole—not just their own institutions. The NLTI has met, and continues to meet, since November 2021 and convened in-person meetings in March and June 2022. Currently, the NLTI Steering Committee consists of nine of its original members. Its last in-person meeting took place in November 2023 in Puerto Rico.
In 2019, at the urging of HowlRound and the Latinx Theater Commons, the Mellon Foundation designed and disseminated a 3-question Latinx Theater Survey to get a more accurate overview of the Latinx theater sector. The survey was sent to approximately 100 theaters and received 42 responses. From this report, the Steering Committee concluded that a multi-year, General Operating Support re-granting program is the top priority of the NLTI.
Based on Mellon survey results, the NLTI has disbursed multi-year funds to achieve greater financial stability in our systemically underfunded and undercapitalized sector, nurture our artistic voices in a post-pandemic landscape, and boost the national profile of diverse Latinx theater companies in the United States and Puerto Rico.
The NLTI believes that a three-year effort will not be enough to begin to address the systemic underfunding and undercapitalization of the Latinx theater sector; rather, it will take a minimum of 10 years to stabilize and sustain this critical work. As such, we consider this first $15 million, three-year fundraising goal as the beginning of a more robust funding panorama and will continue to fundraise for the next three-year cycle as we finish the current one.
The National
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Jacqueline Flores (she/her/hers) is a producer, theatremaker, and arts advocate. She is currently the Producer for the Latinx Theatre Commons. Jacqueline spent two years at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where she produced the theatre’s special events and led the Company Pool Fund, an internal initiative that provides grants to its company of artists. She has also worked at The Public Theater, in their Mobile Unit and Public Forum programs, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Ballet Austin, and Americans for the Arts. Jacqueline was selected as a member of Theatre Producers of Color’s inaugural cohort and is a two-time recipient of the National New Play Network’s Producer in Residence grant. She is passionate about theatre and the ways in which performance can be used as a means for social change. Jacqueline is a proud Texas native and first-generation American, born to parents who emigrated from Honduras and Mexico. She holds a BA in Theater Arts from St. Edward’s University.
Olga Garay-English is the Director, along with Jose Luis Valenzuela, of the National Latinx Theater Initiative (NLTI), which is funded by national and local foundations and spearheaded by the Mellon Foundation. NLTI is led by LA’s Latino Theater Company. An international arts consultant, Olga is Senior Advisor for International Affairs to Chile’s Fundación Teatro a Mil. She is the Project Consultant for the Artistic Directors of Color Alliance - Greater Los Angeles. She serves on the Steering Committee of the International Presenting Commons. Olga was the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (2007-2014), reporting to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. During her tenure, DCA and its programs received over $23 million in outside funding support. During her tenure, DCA’s annual operating budget grew to $50 million. Founding Program Director for the Arts for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (1998-2005), awarding $145 million in grants to national and international performing arts organizations. (In 2023 dollars, that amount equals $233,508,200.) Named a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 2012. Awarded a “Bessie,” the New York Dance and Performance Awards. She serves on the Board of Directors of South Arts, one of six U.S.-based Regional Arts Organizations, and the International Performing Arts Society, among others. Born in Santa Clara, Cuba. Bilingual (English/Spanish).
Anthony J. Garcia Tony has been the Executive Artistic Director of El Centro Su Teatro since 1989 and has been a member of Su Teatro since 1972. He received his BA in Theatre from the University of Colorado at Denver. Tony has received numerous awards and accolades for his artistic work, including the 1989 University of California, Irvine Chicano Literary Award, a 2006 United States Artists Fellowship, an artist residency at the Island Institute in Sitka, Alaska, and was named the Denver Post 2010 Theatre Person of the Year. He has published 2 volumes of original plays and numerous articles. His body of written and produced plays is more than 40 of which more than 20 are music driven, most written in collaboration with Daniel Valdez. His multi-media adaptation of Gustavo Arellano’s column entitled “Interview with a Mexican” was select by NEFA (New England Fund for the Arts) to tour nationally in 2021. Over the years his productions Enrique’s Journey, Serafin: Cantos y Lagrimas and El Sol de Tu Eres and the Westside Oratorio received critical awards and recognitions. He is a recipient of the prestigious Livingston Fellowship and the Community Service Award from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation as well as the Funke Award for Community Building from the Colorado Non-Profit Association. Tony is member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Latino Art and Culture (NALAC) and a Co-Founder of the NALAC Leadership Institute. He was a member of the Western State Arts Federation’s (WESTAF) Board of Trustees for 9 years. In 20014 he was elected Chair of the Board of Directors for the Council in Support of Tier IIIs and was founder and Co-Chair of the Community ACTS Fund in 2019. He has also been faculty member in the Department of Chicano/a Studies at Metro State University at Denver since 1994.
Miranda Gonzalez Miranda Gonzalez born and raised in Chicago, is currently a Producing Artistic Director at Urban Theater Company (UTC) in Humboldt Park and a founding ensemble member of Chicago’s All Latina Theater company Teatro Luna, is a facilitator, organizational strategist, and has created content addressing anti-blackness in the Latine community. Her niche of developing anti-oppressive praxis granted her an invitation to film a TEDx Talk on decolonizing theater. As an organizational strategist, She currently collaborates with BLVE Consults and Culture Change Lab supporting arts organizations and funders in reimagining strategic planning, operational assessments, communication strategies, and collective structures. She has devised and developed plays since 2000 and is a 3 Arts Awardee and recipient of the International Centre for Women Playwrights 50/50. As a theater maker, her play Back In The Day: an 80’s House Music Dancesical, World Premiered as a part of Chicago Latino Theater Festival Destinos Festival at UTC in the fall of 2019. She is currently developing a play that discusses the history of the underground railroad to Mexico as a part of Latino Theater Company’s Imaginistas cohort in Los Angeles. Some of her directing credits include: Thank You for Coming, Take Care by Stacey Rose at Court Theatre, Ashes of Light by Marco Antonio Rodriguez, and La Gringa by Carmen Rivera. She is also an Executive Producer for the web series 50 Blind Dates with Melissa DuPrey and has written for web series Ruby’s World Yo created by Marilyn Camacho, Season 1 episode 3 and Season 2 episodes 1-4.
Abel López is Associate Producing Director of GALA Hispanic Theatre and former Chair of Theatre Washington, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities¸ Americans for the Arts, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, National Performance Network, Theater Communications Group, Performing Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, League of Washington Theatres, Salud, Leadership Washington and GALA.As a theater director, his productions have been presented in Washington, DC, Arizona, Texas, California, Colorado, New York, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Cuba, and Venezuela. His honors include the Herb White Award for his contributions to the Washington, DC arts community, the Fan Taylor Award for his contributions to the presenting field, the Arthur L. Johnson Award from the Sphinx Organization for his contributions to diversity and equity in the nation’s arts sector, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas A&M-Kingsville, the Selima Ottum Roberts Award from AFTA for his contributions to the arts, Washingtonian of the Year Award, and Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Community Leadership Association. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Lopez has been a lecturer at Yale Drama School, Columbia University, and George Mason University, and is a member of the core faculty of the NALAC Leadership Institute and NALAC Advocacy Institute.
David Lozano serves as the Executive Artistic Director of Cara Mía Theatre and specializes in writing, directing and producing original bilingual plays for the Latinx community in North Texas. In 2009, David co-wrote and directed the play Crystal City 1969 with Raul Treviño which was named the “Best New Play of 2009” by The Dallas Morning News, TheaterJones.Com and the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum. David also co-wrote and directed Deferred Action, the second installment of the trilogy for a Cara Mía co-production with the Dallas Theater Center in April 2016. In collaboration with Ignite Arts Dallas, Deferred Action toured Texas and Los Angeles in 2017. Lozano is a founding steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons. Since 2018, Lozano has served as the Co-Chair of Dallas-Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation which is part of a national movement funded by the Kellogg Foundation.
Rosalba Rolón is the Artistic Director of Pregones + Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, located in The Bronx and in Manhattan, NY. She is a theater director and dramaturg specialized in the adaptation of literary and non-literary texts for the stage, with live music. Some of her work includes the recent revival of Harlem Hellfighters On A Latin Beat, Torched! and Guaracha, We Have Iré, (in collaboration with Paul S. Flores & Yosvani Terry) which was premiered at YBCA/San Francisco, and many others, including international collaborations…Rosalba is a Faculty Member of Leadership Institute at NALAC in New York City, and has served on various advisory capacities nationwide. Her touring with PregonesPRTT’s Ensemble includes 37 states, 500+ U.S. cities, and 18 countries. Distinctions include 2019 Creative Capital Award (with Paul Flores/Yosvany Terry) and 2018 Doris Duke Artist Award. Rosalba is also a United States Artist Fellow. She is a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee, and Board Member of National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), of United States Artists, and was co-Chair of the 2021/2022 Assoc. of Performing Arts Professionals Conferences. She has served on numerous funding and selection panels for since early 1990s. Rosalba is a Faculty Member of Leadership Institute at NALAC. In New York City, and has served on various advisory capacities nationwide. Her touring with PregonesPRTT’s Ensemble includes 37 states, 500+ U.S. cities, and 18 countries.
Mario Ernesto Sánchez Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Teatro Avante and the International Hispanic Theatre Festival of Miami. Mario Ernesto is an accomplished actor, director, producer, and playwright who has performed leading roles in theatre productions and has worked in film and television. He has acted in several films with international stars. He has represented the U.S. as a special guest at festivals and cultural events in Latin America, Europe, and Japan. He has been a peer-review panelist on local, state, regional, national, and international arts funding panels. In 1994, he received the Ollantay award, presented by CELCIT-Spain, for his achievements in the Hispanic Theatre movement on two continents. In 1995, he received the Federico García Lorca Award in Fuente Vaqueros, Spain, for "his significant contributions to the development of Hispanic Theatre in America." In 2012, he received the George Abbott Award at the annual Carbonell awards for "Achievement in the Arts." In 2014, he received the highest honor in Latino theatre in the U.S., the Legacy Award, "in recognition of his commitment, leadership, and contributions to Latino Theater." Mario Ernesto is Teatro Avante's representative to the Board of Directors of The Performing Arts Center Trust (PACT).
José Luis Valenzuela (Artistic Director): is the Director alongside Olga Garay English, of the National Latinx Theater Initiative. He is also Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company (LTC) at The Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television. Valenzuela is an award-winning theater director and has been a visionary and an advocate for Chicanx/Latinx Theater for over 30 years. He has directed critically acclaimed productions at major theaters both internationally and nationally including the LATC where he created the Latino Theatre Lab in 1985 and the Mark Taper Forum where he established the Latino Theater Initiative in 1991. He has directed, The Mother of Henry, Solitude, Premeditation, Dementia, and A Mexican Trilogy for the Latino Theatre Company. His international directing credits include Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt at the Norland Theatre in Norway and Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman at the National Theatre of Norway. He produced the national Encuentro Festival in 2014 and national and international Encuentro de las Americas in 2017.