JOSÉ TORRES-TAMA & ARTEFUTURO PRODUCTIONS
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WRITINGS from an Independent & Renegade Scholar

It is my social duty to speak truth to perverse power.
As a Latin American immigrant and person of color, a brown Mestizó, I don't have the luxury to make “art for art’s sake” and engage in
indulgent practices to explore “form” and meaningless abstract concerns. The issues threatening my decolonized body
and the bodies of my immigrant community under attack are much too urgent for such escapism art.


As a writer of performances rooted in a belief that art can inspire social justice, here are links to some of the many articles scripted in support of developing work that serves as a creative catalyst for self-empowerment, a greater evolved consciousness, and cultural equity to have our voices heard. I write to remember against a culture that celebrates amnesia, and challenge a divisive and corrosive political landscape that is
taking the country back to the 1950s--when people of color were systematically silenced. --JTT
   

From 2006 to 2011 José Torres-Tama wrote and recorded commentaries that aired on NPR's Latino USA, and many of his pieces were introduced by award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. He covered the myriad challenges of the post-Katrina reconstruction in New Orleans, and exposed the plight of Latin American immigrants who were subjected to wage theft by ruthless contractors; suffered random police brutality; brutal deportations at the hands of ICE Agents; and experienced a nightmare of other human rights violations--while they heroically contributed their sweat, labor, and blood to the resurrection of a once devastated port city. 

Hard Living in the Big Easy: Immigrants & the Rebirth of New Orleans is the title of a creative non-fiction book in process that chronicles his NPR commentaries, numerous writings, and photographs on the epic struggles of a people who have contributed to the rebuilding of New Orleans, but whose remarkable human efforts have often gone neglected--as they struggle to remain in a city they have helped to rebuild.

From 1998 to 2003, he wrote critical pieces on performance art for Art Papers Magazine published in Atlanta, and was a contributing editor working from New York and New Orleans for a five-year period with his own column called Performance Happens. He wrote about the early fusions of Hip-Hop and theater, covering the work of Universes, Hi-Hop Theater Junction, Olive Dance Theater and many others who were at the forefront of a new movement.

Also, he wrote about the work of iconic performance artists such as Rhodessa Jones, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Dan Kwong, Holly Hughes, Tim Miller, Karen Finley, James Luna, Keith Antar Mason, and many others. While traveling internationally with his own work, he gave ink to international performance artists from Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, and Serbia.

Also, he has contributed articles to the PBS Blog for the Latin American documentary series, HowlRound Journal, TCG’s Diversity & Inclusion Series, Cultural Vistas Magazine, Alternate ROOTS From the Field, and wrote performance and visual art reviews in the late 90s and early part of the millennium for the Chicago Art Examiner, P-Form, and the Mexico City Times, the NY Times version for the Mexican capital.

Links to writings:

Public: A Journal for Imagining America (June 2016): Our Global ROOTS

HowlRound Journal (August 2015): Latinos & the Rebirth of Post-Katrina New Orleans


HowlRound Journal (Dec 2015): Staging the Immigrant Hysteria

HowlRound Journal (August 2015): Latinos & the Rebirth of Post-Katrina New Orleans

Alternate ROOTS News (June 2015): Teatro Sin Fronteras: Shifting Narratives

CAFé HONDA/HowlRounf Journal (Nov 2014): ALIENS Invades Encuentro Festival

Alternate ROOTS Newsletter Blog on CAL Arts Residency (Nov 2014):
Exploring the American Dream Mythology Through Performance Art Workshops


PBS & TCG Blogs 2013:

PBS Blog: Hard Living in the Big Easy: Latino Immigrants & the Recovery of Post-Katrina New Orleans

PBS Blog: Because the Dream Knows More than You

TCG Blog: The Politics of Inclusion




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  • Home
  • About
  • SHOWS
  • NO GUAC SHIRTS
  • Immigrant Dreams
  • Contact
  • COLOR OF MUSIC
  • US OF AMNESIA PERFORMANCE
  • Channeling the Spirits
  • LECTURES WORKSHOPS
  • Poetry Without Borders
  • PhotoNOLA2022
  • ART STORE
  • VIDEO CORTADITOS
  • Community Ensemble Projects
  • WRITINGS
  • TACO TRUCK FILM
  • Taco Truck Theater
  • PhotoNOLA2020
  • JMC Residency New Works
  • VERDE GRITOS PANDEMICOS En Español
  • NO GUACAMOLE PERFORMANCE
  • Teatro Sin Fronteras Late Night
  • Photography
  • WORKS ON PAPER
  • BOOKS
  • Free People of Color
  • TOUR
  • PRESS