Nuestra Palabra
Ph 713.867.8943
Nuestra Palabra’s Statement Regarding the NALAC Report Showing Latinx Art
Gets Only 1% of Funding
HOUSTON, TX - September 17, 2018 - Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say (NP) is one of the only 10 Latinx Art groups to apply for funding during the time frame analyzed by the NALAC Report: “A Call to Collaborate: Continued Inequity in Funding Houston Latinx Art Organizations 2010 – 2015”.
NP knows the Houston Art Alliance (HAA) system well. In 1998, Tony Diaz founded Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say. NP has received HAA project grants, as well as grants for operating funds. NP was in the HAA incubator program for 2 years. NP director Tony Diaz served on the HAA board. NP has also received funding from the Texas Commission on the Arts, Houston Endowment. and the National Endowment for the Arts.
After 2010, NP made a conscience decision to stop applying for funding from HAA because the system was unfair to Latinos. Worse, it was evident that the organization was not cultivating and did not respect the cultural capital of the Chicana, Chicano, Hispanic, Latina, Latino, Mexican American or Latinx community.
Significant portions of funding are set-aside for the larger nonprofits that have the most infrastructure and the most funding to begin with. The remaining funds also effectively pit all remaining nonprofits against each other. It was also difficult to complain. Other organizations fear losing funding or possible rejection when applying for grants for organizations or as individual artists. There is no transparency. It is difficult to get an exact number on the amounts Latinx groups receive, until now. Now it is clear the entire system and process must be overhauled.
We have a longer list of issues that we shall release at upcoming townhalls. However, we have been meeting with many other organizations and artists to devise the following goals:
1.
Equity for Latinx Arts groups.
Equity for Latinx Arts groups. 3.Devise a plan for the long-term cultivation of Latinx Art in our communities.
Devise a plan for the long-term cultivation of Latinx Art in our communities. The following 3 super groups will be advocating for the Latinx Art community:
1.Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Hispanic Advisory Board Arts Committee: This group will address public policy regarding Latinx Art.
Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Hispanic Advisory Board Arts Committee: This group will address public policy regarding Latinx Art. 2.Councilman Robert Gallego’s Gathering of Latino Nonprofits: This group consists of Latinx nonprofit organizations not directly related to the arts.
Councilman Robert Gallego’s Gathering of Latino Nonprofits: This group consists of Latinx nonprofit organizations not directly related to the arts. 3.HALA-Houston Alliance of Latinx Arts: This group consists of Latinx artists and Latinx Arts organizations.
HALA-Houston Alliance of Latinx Arts: This group consists of Latinx artists and Latinx Arts organizations.This is an opportunity for Houston to build on errors from the past. We look forward to uniting with others to ring in the Latinx Renaissance.
More info to come, always MAS.
