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UTeach Theatre student Carmen Martinez (B.F.A. Theatre Education 2024) served as an intern for the Indigenous Arts Summer Encounter, hosted by the Indigenous Cultures Institute. There, she worked with students aged 10-13, sharing the vibrant legacy of indigenous arts and traditions. Other instructors and staff included Oscar Franco (B.F.A. Theatre Education 2014), Juan Leyva (B.F.A. Theatre Education 2021), Andrew Valdez (B.F.A. 2017), Christina Romero (B.F.A. Theatre Education 2015), Venese Alcantar (B.F.A. Dance Education 2022), Diana Guizado (B.A. 2019,) and Jeremy Canales (B.A. 2023), Jóse Flores (B.M. Music Education 2020).

Representation Matters was successfully launched and took place during the Spring 2022 semester, though adapted given the continued impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on events. Much of the work occurred in person, though a few events were moved online and to hybrid modalities.

The symposium, as intended, featured the new work Ursula, a play written and performed by Frida Espinoza Mueller of Cara Mía Theatre Company in Dallas. The production ran at the Mexican American Cultural Center from March 1-5. The play was performed almost entirely in Spanish with English supertitles. Cara Mía characterizes the play as follows: “Ursula tells the journey of Nadia, a 7-year-old, separated from her mother after seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border. As Nadia waits for her asylum to be processed, she reflects on the difficulties she is leaving behind in Honduras and the new reality she is facing.” The symposium proudly centered this production in collaboration with Teatro Vivo. Over 400 2^nd-5^th graders from Austin and over 100 family audience members experienced this play. Espinoza Mueller was in residence for an entire week and visited the theatre for youth classes at UT Austin.

The May three-day event was well attended and robustly programmed. Over 250 people attended the symposium at the AISD PAC on May 14th and the symposium brought over 400 K-12 participants, plus 75 UT and Austin community members to campus on May 16th. The days included a keynote speech from renowned author Duncan Tonatiuh, youth performances of ballet folklórico, mariachi, and the bilingual play Roosters as well as UT Austin’s Mariachi Paredes. The events also included workshops focused on culturally specific art, music, dance, theatre, poetry, and bookmaking. Families and teachers were offered bilingual books written by the symposium’s keynote speaker.

The virtual program of events for the May symposium and celebration can be found HERE.

Photos of the project can be found here: SATURDAY,  MONDAY

View the full schedule of events HERE.