Applications for Los Angeles Theatre Center's Artistic Leaders Fellowship Now Available

The Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), a four-theatre complex is operated by The Latino Theater Company (LTC), a 29 year-old, award-winning ensemble whose mission is to provide a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; a place where the convergence of people, cultures, and ideas contribute to the future.

LATC is looking for 10 arts leaders of various backgrounds who represent the future leadership of the American Theatre to apply to the Artistic Leaders Fellowship. This fellowship takes place Oct 1-Nov 21, 2014 in Los Angeles; it runs concurrently with the LATC 2014 ENCUENTRO, the largest National Latina/o Theatre Festival in over 25 years.

The 2014 LATC Encuentro acknowledges the groundbreaking work of the Teatro Nacional de Aztlan (TENAZ), the national umbrella organization of Chicano Theaters in the 1970s and 1980s, and seeks to revitalize the spark this organization ignited across the county at the time. We hope the Encuentro will have a lasting impact by deepening connections between Latina/o artists and organizations, with the ultimate goal of fostering a national touring network that will launch Latina/o plays into the repertoire of the American Theatre.

In October 2013, the largest gathering of Latina/o professionals since the last TENAZ festival took place in Boston, and served as the official launch of the Latina/o Theatre Commons. This national convening was a watershed moment that galvanized the

community into action. Together, we identified four tenets of the Latina/o Theatre Commons: Scholarship, Convening/Networking, Art- making, and Advocacy - all embedded within the framework of the LATC 2014 Encuentro.

Continuing a national dialogue about the impact Latina/o Theater can have in updating the narrative of the American Theatre, the 2014 Encuentro investigates the rationale behind the innovative approaches being used by artists today. To understand the deep impact Latina/o artists have had, it is crucial to discuss the varied artistic expressions that exist within the polycultural Latina/o theater landscape. Furthermore, the Encuentro seeks to understand how and why we arrive to each form, be it community-based, avant-garde, ensemble-based, playwright driven, devised, or experimental work. This knowledge will help counter limiting stereotypical ideas of what Latina/o theater is, and help defy the systematic exclusion of Latina/o work from the canon of American Theater.

An online application is available at: http://bit.ly/1qiCpFZ.