On Tuesday August 7th the Tradicional Mural Project took place in Soho as an initiative by Jose Cuervo to support the arts and Latin culture. This contest promotes typical Mexican murals inside US communities. The project shows how the artists and the communities are inspired by the Hispanic heritage, and how the art in America has a definitive influence on their vision. It’s a celebration of the past to inspire a better future.
Artists from all over the nation are invited to submit their Murals, and the best 10 will be showing their work until March 2013, when a selected jury will decide the winner. The prize is $15,000 for the winner, and an additional $15,000 for a non-profit organization in the community where the artist is from.
Also involved in this project is the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), whose been 23 years promoting Latino culture and helping new artists; as well as actor and director Clifton Collins Jr.
Clifton, who also comes from a Latino background and grew up very close to the murals and the arts of the streets was very proud of being part of the project: “It´s very important to be able to say things that you want to say, and for this you need somebody believing in you”. After the presentation, Latin Recap had the opportunity to talk with Clifton and with Rosalba Rolon, director of theater and also part of NALAC. Both agreed in the importance of the latino artists in the US panorama, but they emphasized in the risk of being considered latino on top of being an artist: ”Sometimes the fact of being a latino artist can overlap the own voice that the artist himself has as a person; it´s dangerous to build on the latino cliché your career like artist, because it involves validation versus another culture and it changes the way that people look at you. There is a risk that in the end you believe that a big part of you is just being Latino, when the really important thing is to have your own voice.”
Submissions are open until August 31st. For more information go to:
http://nalac.submittable.com/submit/13194/submission
