Monday, December 24, 2012

2012: The Year in HOLA

The year 2012 has been a momentous year for Latinos in the arts and for the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) in particular. Take a look at some of the things that occurred in 2012. 

HOLA initiatives, events and workshops/seminars
have bullets marked in red.
Advocacy efforts have bullets marked in blue.
Union affairs have bullets marked in green
Notable news items have bullets marked in purple

JANUARY
Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC works with HOLA after the theater company acknowledges there was much to do with its casting of its Shakespeare production of Much Ado About Nothing. (Click HERE for more info.)
ABC cancels television show “Work It” after two episodes amid controversy within Puerto Rican/Latino and LGBTQ communities (especially with the former after a character says, “I’d be really good at selling drugs. I’m Puerto Rican.”). (Click HERE for more info.)
The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences declares that films made in Puerto Rico are ineligible for the Best Foreign(-Language) Film category. (Click HERE for more info.)
The United States Postal Service honors José Ferrer on a 2012 Forever stamp. (Click HERE for more info.)
The respective boards of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) agree to merge, creating and sending a ballot for the members of both unions. (Click HERE and HERE for more info.)



FEBRUARY
SAG and AFTRA members vote on merger. (Click HERE for more info.)
Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC holds New York-based auditions exclusively for HOLA members for its upcoming season. (Click HERE for more info.)
Time magazine cover story predicts Latino vote will decide the U.S. presidency in 2012. (Click HERE for more info.)

MARCH
HOLA presents HOLA After The Curtain/HOLA Después Del Telón event for DC-7: The Roberto Clemente Story. (Click HERE for more info.)
The U.S. State Department starts sending out communications in English and Spanish (for the first time in history). (Click HERE for more info.)
SAG and AFTRA members overwhelmingly vote to merge and SAG-AFTRA is born. (Click HERE for more info.)

APRIL
HOLA presents a benefit staged reading of Florencia Lozano’s play Busted. (Click HERE for more info.)
Quiara Alegría Hudes becomes the second writer of Latino heritage (and first Latina) to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water By The Spoonful. (Click HERE for more info.)

MAY
HOLA presents its long-running and popular Spanish-Language Voiceover Workshop with Manuel Herrera. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA reaches its fundraising deadline in 36 days (as of this writing, the fastest in We Did It! crowdfunding platform history). (Click HERE for more info.)

JUNE
HOLA presents HOLA After The Curtain/HOLA Después Del Telón event for Chimichangas and Zoloft. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA debuts its new Regional Membership for those living outside the NYC metropolitan area. (Click HERE for more info.)


JULY
HOLA begins relationship with Louis Perego Moreno (Tío Louie), formerly head of the New York chapter of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP-NY) and current host of the Prime Latino Media Salon. 
Puerto Rico woos Hollywood with more tax breaks. (Click HERE for more info.)
Louis C.K. makes history as the person with the most Emmy nominations in one year, with seven 2012 Primetime Emmy noms. (Click HERE for more info.)

AUGUST
SAG-AFTRA receives AFL-CIO charter. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA participates in Back Stage article as an “industry player” on the state of Latinos and show business in a special Latino issue of the trade publication. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA Awards Announcement Ceremony. (Click HERE for more info.)

SEPTEMBER
HOLA partners with NALIP-NY and Tío Louie for the Prime Latino Media Salon. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA participates in online discussion with Huffington Post Live regarding stereotypes in the media. (Click HERE for more info.)

OCTOBER
 2012 HOLA Awards. (Click HERE and HERE for more info.)
HOLA partners with NALIP-NY and Tío Louie for the Prime Latino Media Salon. (Click HERE for more info.)
Disney’s Controversial Latina-Then-Not-Latina Princess Sofia. (Click HERE, HERE and HERE for more info.)
Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy makes landfall in NYC metropolitan area, closing HOLA’s office for a week. (Click HERE for more info.)

NOVEMBER
 The new Gerber baby is… Latina. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA partners with NALIP-NY and Tío Louie for the Prime Latino Media Salon. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA presents its Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Commercials seminar with Elaine Del Valle. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA presents its long-running and popular Spanish-Language Voiceover Workshop with Manuel Herrera. (Click HERE for more info.)
Rolling Stone (U.S.) magazine publishes first cover (and corresponding supplement) all in Spanish. (Click HERE for more info.)

DECEMBER
Controversy arises when Ben Affleck casts himself as Tony Méndez in the movie Argo (which he directed and is based on a true story). (Click HERE for more info.)
A blog in El Blog de HOLA about the Ben Affleck/Argo scandal goes viral, garnering thousands of views in days and setting the blogosphere on fire, while also getting picked up by NBC Latino, New Generation Latino Consortium and Latino Rebels. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA presents its popular Spanish-Language Voiceover Workshop with Manuel Herrera. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA officially cements its relationship with NALIP-NY and Tío Louie beginning with its combination Prime Latino Media Salon and holiday party. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA presents HOLAtalks event with David Zayas. (Click HERE for more info.)
HOLA presents HOLAfestival of staged play readings by HOLA member-playwrights. (Click HERE for more info.)

A blog in El Blog de HOLA called, "Erasing the Brown: Whitewashing of Latino Characters in Film", noting how films such as Starship Troopers, Brokeback Mountain and A Beautiful Mind, among others, treated Latino characters, goes viral and is republished in the industry publication Latin Heat. (Click HERE for more info.)





HOLA members have been very busy this year as well. And some of their gigs have been due to them being HOLA members. Whether HOLA members received work from a casting announcement we send to them via e-mail, a direct referral or through a casting director finding the actor’s information on our online directory, it makes us proud to see our members working. Some of the jobs that HOLA members received as a result of their membership are listed below.

Film and Television
Bromas pesadas
• Brooklyn College student film projects
Ch**ga tu Romney
Día de los Muertos/Cempaspúchil
• Five Years Later
• Flor de muertos
Graffiti Dancer
Las mañanitas
• “Stars Earn Stripes” [NBC]
Todo bien
• UNARAZA Productionz [sic] film projects

Theater (* An asterisk indicates a production that is outside of New York City.)
All About Meat (The Garcías) [Duo Theater]
Bad Uncle [Torres Productions]
• The Bats theater company [The Flea Theater]
Black Latina [BLM/Caicedo Productions]
• Bodas de sangre [E3Outlaws Productions]
By The Dawn’s Early Light (Los Embrujados [The Haunted Ones] and Midnight Mass) [Working Artists Lab]*
Color TVs in Tijuana [Aztec Economy]
Everybody Does It [Youmans Productions]
Ghetto Babylon [Arizona Theater Company]*
Glass Cord [Teatro LATEA]
The Golden Cacao Bean [Fantastic Experimental Latino Theater]
• In Sight 18 series [Puerto Rican Traveling Theater]
Las tentaciones de González [Teatro LATEA]
Los Nutcrackers: A Christmas Carajo [Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance]
• MetLife Nuestras Voces series [Repertorio Español]
Mi casa, tu casa [Luna Stage]*
Not One More Foot of Land [Secret Rose Theater]*
Occupy: The Musical [Primary Stages]
On the 1 Train [People’s Theater Project]
Party People [Oregon Shakespeare Festival]*
• Shakespeare Theatre Company Season General Auditions*
The Sin Eater [TRU]
Sunshine [Teatro LATEA]
Tango Fever [Teatro LATEA]

New Media (including webseries)
• “Casi perfecta” [Yahoo! Mujer en Español]
• “Espacio para tus sueños” [Ford]
• “Happy Cancer Chick”
• “¡Madre mía!”

Commercials/Industrial/Voiceover/Print
• Burlington Coat Factory
• Cambridge National Bank
• Manzanita Sol
• McDonald’s
• Metro PCS
• Motion Inc. educational video
My Last, Best Spouse/Dixon Place
• Olay advertorial
• Radio Shack
• Target


[The above only indicates the jobs that HOLA members have informed us they received through HOLA and may not represent all the jobs received by HOLA members through HOLA membership.]



Que en Paz Descansen / Rest in Peace
Piri Thomas
Pedro Armendáriz, Jr.
Ruth Fernández
Graciela Más
Rich Ramírez
Miguel Ponce
Yomo Toro
Lupe Ontiveros
Carmen Belén Richardson
Gabita Miller
Héctor "Macho" Camacho
Jenni Rivera
Axel Anderson

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