CARPA San Diego, a local theatrical troupe aimed at creating “a space where Latino artists can showcase their talent through theater, dance, music and other artistic expressions,” is one of 52 organizations around the United States and Puerto Rico to receive a grant meant to increase the stability and national profile of Latinx theater companies.
The San Diego troupe, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, s a long roster of grant recipients, including 10 theaters in New York City, six theaters in Puerto Rico and five theaters in Los Angeles.
The awards, announced Monday, are being handed out by Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company under the National Latinx Theater Initiative, a re-granting program funded by several philanthropic organizations.
On Monday, the Latino Theater Company announced it has received a $5 million award from the Mellon Foundation, which s other organizations that also made funding commitments, including the Ford Foundation ($2 million), the Rockefeller Brothers Fund ($750,000), the Joyce Foundation ($600,000) and the California Community Foundation ($500,000).
In total, the Latino Theater Company has $9 million to award as part of the National Latinx Theater Initiative. The program is designed to spread the wealth over a period of 10 years, the first three of which will be overseen by Latino Theater Company artistic director José Luis Valenzuela and renowned arts Olga Garay-English.
“This new re-granting initiative was inspired by ‘The Black Seed’,” said Olga Garay-English, alluding to a national strategic plan to Black theater institutions. “The funders’ collaborative, which includes both national and local foundations, will allow us to make a minimum of 40 to 60 grants throughout the country and Puerto Rico from 2023 to 2025.”
CARPA San Diego will receive $80,000 over two years, with $40,000 being disbursed this year and the remaining $40,000 next year, said Samuel Valdez, the group’s artistic director and founder.
Valdez said CARPA San Diego was encouraged to apply last spring and found out Sept. 14 that it was one of the recipients.
“We are very happy with it because this grant focuses more on the istration side of the organization,” Valdez said, referring to some grant requirements that dictate how monies are spent. With this award, “we are able to concentrate more on the logistics part the organization — running the organization.”
This award comes on the heels of another big financial boost for CARPA San Diego: Last year, it was one of only 10 recipients of the National Theater Project Creation and Touring awards, istered by the New England Foundation for the Arts, which handed out grants ranging from $80,000 to $130,000.
It won for “La Carpa De La Frontera: Stories of the Invisible,” described as a “site-specific tent-like vaudeville touring show which can be taken into any community who is in most need of healing” from social, political and economic issues that affect vulnerable communities — ranging from immigration and race to gender and labor rights.
CARPA San Diego uses the old carpa style of theater — carpa means tent in Spanish — that was popular in Mexico in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, using comedy, drama and satire to address societal issues.
“La Carpa De La Frontera” was a part of the La Jolla Playhouse’s site-specific Without Walls (WOW) Festival in 2022.
In March of 2024, CARPA San Diego will be at the Guadalupe Cultural Center in San Antonio, and in August, it will be at Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center in Denver.
