When it comes to working in the arts and theatre sectors, IBPoC artists (Indigenous, Black, People of Colour) face a number of barriers due to systemic discrimination—yet IBPoC artists have always created innovative and bold new work.
As Puente Theatre’s artistic director, UVic Distinguished Fine Arts Alumna Mercedes Bátiz-Benét (Writing BFA ’02) has a number of IBPoC initiatives underway—including the conVERGE micro-residency with Intrepid Theatre—that will help address the gap in mentorship and support across the industry and in our own community.
Join us from 12 – 1pm Monday, March 29 via Zoom to discover how Mercedes and Puente Theatre supports and amplifies IBPoC voices and perspectives in this important discussion with professor Adam Con, Acting Associate Dean of UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
Register here for the free Zoom webinar.
About Mercedes
A multi-disciplinary artist, writer and award-winning director, Mercedes’ direction of Fado, The Saddest Music in the World earned Puente Theatre the $15,000 JAYMAC Outstanding Production Award at the 2020 Greater Victoria Regional Arts Awards.
Born and raised in Mexico, she moved to Canada in 1997 to attend UVic, where she earned both a BFA in Writing and a BA Honours in Philosophy; she also has a diploma in film production from the Pacific Film & New Media Academy. Approaching expression from as many angles as possible, she has worked as writer, dramaturge, theatre director, translator, adapter, actor, puppeteer, multi-media artist, screenwriter, film and video editor, cinematographer, and director.
In addition to her stage work, Mercedes did camera and cinematography for Look At What The Light Did Now—the 2012 Juno Award-winning feature-length documentary about singer/songwriter Feist. She is also the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction editor at Bayeux Arts. In 2015, she was named a Distinguished Alumni of UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
Learning from other cultures
“I think it’s paramount for local audiences to learn from other cultures, especially in the multicultural experiment that is Canada. We need to learn from each other so we have a greater and better understanding of what it means to be human,” she said in this 2015 interview.
“Every culture experiences life from a different angle, from a different point of view—and, in my experience, the more points of view you have, the more your understanding expands and deepens. I have a Mexican way of understanding and viewing the world, as well as a Canadian one, which enables me to develop a third point of view—a Mexicanadian one, if you like.”
New IBPoC initiatives
With theatres closed due to COVID, Mercedes has been busy this past year putting the JAYMAC Outstanding Production prize to work in developing various local IBPoC initiatives, including:
- the conVERGE micro-residency with Intrepid, a mentorship program supporting emerging and early-career IBPoC artists to develop work in 2021
- changing Puente’s WORKPLAY series into an annual playwriting residency for two emerging IBPoC playwrights (6-8 months of biweekly dramaturgical support, $1,500 per playwright, 40 hours of studio space, staged reading of the plays)
- launching the Victoria Foundation-funded “Bridging the Gap”, a one-time initiative designed to support female IBPoC playwrights in the creation of new work (8 months of biweekly dramaturgical support, $6,000, a one-week workshop + presentation of their play with professional actors)
- commissioning three IBPOC artists to create a 5 minute video piece each as part of a national project presented by the National Arts Centre
- launching a Victoria chapter of The 3.7% Initiative, which was created by the Vancouver theatre company Boca del Lupo for the express purpose of helping women who self-identify as ethnically and culturally diverse, of Indigenous or of mixed-racial heritage find greater success in their performing arts practice.
Don’t miss the chance to hear her speak about the impact these various initiatives will have on Victoria’s arts community.