Another round of Scholarships for Artists of Color is open!
Deadline to apply is January 22nd, 2021. These scholarships award a tuition amount of $250 towards any and all education classes with the Neo-Futurists. This includes all offerings of Neo-Toolbox classes throughout the year, as well as multi-week Introductory classes that will be offered later in the spring and summer of 2021. Click here to apply.
Plus, keep reading this letter from former student and scholarship recipient (and current Managing Director of The Neo-Futurists) Jorge Silva, about his experience taking a class.
I applied for the scholarship at a time where my interest in the Neo-Futurists had peaked, but I was facing a rather challenging period in my personal life where dedicating a substantial amount of my income towards an arts class seemed near impossible. At the time, I was working as a tamalero on 18th street, 60 hours a week with little to no time to explore a full career as an artist.
Once awarded the scholarship and enrolled, the class reignited a passion that I had long lost – the desire to create free of judgment and in a structured enough fashion that energized the writing without a sense of preciousness. The experimental nature of the company’s aesthetic encouraged innovation and individualism and with the support of the dedicated ensemble/instructors, I was free to invest in work that was ultimately my own.
Already frustrated by the lack of inclusion onstage and behind the scenes, creating work through the introductory class at the Neos also realized a personal mission: that I did not have to wait for someone else to present the opportunity to tell my story of Latinidad, rather, I could be that harbinger.
-Jorge Silva
Managing Director of The Neo-Futurists
Unapologetically Bolivian
a play written for Writing & Performing the Two-Minute Play, by Jorge Silva
“I ‘Fink You Freaky” by Die Antwoord plays, Jorge stands at center stage with back to the audience. The ensemble dresses him in an alpaca poncho. He turns and walks downstage, the music stops and says…
Jorge: I once knew a guinea pig named ‘Almuerzo.’
Music resumes, someone throws him a cob of corn and takes a bite before dropping it like a mic.
Next.
Click here to enroll for Writing & Performing the Two-Minute Play.
Click here to enroll for a scholarship.
