Catalyst Fellowship
In response to the timely need for innovation in the world of theater, The Dramatists Guild Foundation has designed an opportunity for some of the most brilliant Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latiné innovators of theater to radically imagine solutions to the equity, social justice, and change in theater.
The Catalyst Fellowship is the brainchild of the Dramatists Guild Foundation board member Branden Jacobs-Jenkins with research support and thought partnership from playwright, Nick Kaidoo. This unique fellowship was developed to create an opportunity to support dramatists that identify as the global ethnic majority who are interested in using their platform to incite political and social change in their communities.
The selected inaugural Fellows are Christine Toy Johnson,
Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Erlina Ortiz, Ife Olujobi, Matthew Paul Olmos, Melissa Li,
Kit Yan, Noa Gardner, Roger Q. Mason, Zachariah Ezer.
Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Erlina Ortiz, Ife Olujobi, Matthew Paul Olmos, Melissa Li,
Kit Yan, Noa Gardner, Roger Q. Mason, Zachariah Ezer.
As part of the Catalyst Fellowship,
Matthew Paul Olmos is working on the Toypurina Project.
The mission of the Toypurina Project is to commission artwork, music, and storytelling, from Native and especially Tongva artists, inspired by Toypurina, who rebelled against the enslaving of Native Americans to build the California Missions. From there, the project is to create a Toypurina artistic exhibit to illuminate both how the Missions were actually built, but also how this one young woman brought so much hope to her gente during such a dark hour.
Matthew Paul Olmos is working on the Toypurina Project.
The mission of the Toypurina Project is to commission artwork, music, and storytelling, from Native and especially Tongva artists, inspired by Toypurina, who rebelled against the enslaving of Native Americans to build the California Missions. From there, the project is to create a Toypurina artistic exhibit to illuminate both how the Missions were actually built, but also how this one young woman brought so much hope to her gente during such a dark hour.
For more information on the commissions,
please contact April Dawn Guthrie (aprildawnguthrie (at) gmail.com)
please contact April Dawn Guthrie (aprildawnguthrie (at) gmail.com)