In July 2024, Mx It Up brought together a panel of successful QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) entrepreneurs who have launched their creative enterprises. This engaging session delved into their unique journeys, the challenges they've overcome, and the strategies they've employed to achieve success in the creative industry.
Our panelists shared their personal stories and offered invaluable tips and practical advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. Whether you're in the early stages of brainstorming your business idea or ready to take the plunge into entrepreneurship, we hope this episode will provide you with some insights and tools needed to turn your creative vision into reality.
Panelists
Dr. Aymar Jean Christian, Co-Founder, OTV | Open Television
Claudia Alick, Founding Executive Producer, Calling Up Justice!
Erin Michelle Washington, Founder, SoulCenter
Resources
For our Season 2 Finale, we are joined by creative, scholar, and waymaker, Erin Michelle Washington. We chat about what it means to be a waymaker, creative entrepreneurship, and crafting community-based spaces.
Weekly Action Items
This week we are joined by producer, advocate, educator, and facilitator, Patricia Garza. We chat about their role as Producer and Director of Programs at Los Angeles Performance Practice, what it means to support multidisciplinary artists and work, and the tremendous impact of Diane Rodriguez on Latine theatre.
Weekly Action Items
This week we are joined by the Founder and Artistic Director of Breaking the Binary Theatre, George Strus. We chat about the joy of developing new work, their transition from performer to producer, and what it means to build community for transgender, nonbinary, and Two Spirt+ (TNB2S+) artists.
Weekly Action Items
This week we are joined by theatre artist and community organizer, Sivan Battat. We chat about their love for developing new work, her multicultural upbringing in Connecticut, and building bridges between cultural and justice work for our collective liberation.
Weekly Action Items
This week host Joey Reyes is joined by theatre director and educator, Adil Mansoor. We chat about his solo performance AMM(I)GONE now touring this spring, growing up in and around Chicago, and making sense of the world through active creative practice.
Weekly Action Items
This week host Joey Reyes is joined by content creator, comedian, and LGBTQ+ advocate, Curly Velasquez. We chat about his current projects, death and grief, and his journey from working with fashion icons to becoming the creative director of Buzzfeed's Latine platform, Pero Like.
Weekly Action Items
This week host Joey Reyes is joined by Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education at PlayPenn, Santiago Iacinti. They chat about being an artistic leader at the new play incubator that grew out of Philadelphia, queer futurism, and Santi's experience as an artist who is also a DACA recipient.
Weekly Action Items
This week host Joey Reyes is joined by playwright, poet, filmmaker, and Founder/Executive Director of Write It Out!, Donja R. Love. They chat about their love for the city of Philadelphia, the power of being soft, and the importance of making space for people living with HIV.
Weekly Action Items
This week, host Joey Reyes is joined by actor, print model, consultant, and community organizer, Samy Figaredo. They chat about the many iterations of Samy’s name, his activism with The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and how institutional leaders can better support artists with marginalized identities.
Weekly Action Items
Welcome to the Season 2 Premiere! This week, host Joey Reyes is joined by Giselle Byrd, the newly appointed Executive Director of The Theater Offensive, to chat about her Georgian roots, the beauty of self-discovery, and her vision for the future as the first Black trans woman to lead a regional theater company in the United States.
Weekly Action Items
For our Season 1 Finale, we are joined by writer and performer Roger Q. Mason to chat about their upcoming productions in 2024, the power of queer and gender-expansive artistry, and the sacredness of joy.
Connect with Roger on Instagram and visit their website.
Purchase tickets to The Pride of Lions at Theatre Rhinoceros.
Purchase tickets to Lavender Men at About Face Theatre.
Purchase tickets to The Duat at Philadelphia Theatre Company.
Follow us on social media at @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week are joined by artist, activist, and ballroom legend Cece Suazo to chat about her life growing up in Brooklyn, becoming the youngest member of THEE House of Labeija, and the power of chosen family.
Connect with Cece on Instagram.
Follow us on social media at @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
Read Decomposition Instead of Collapse – Dear Theatre, Be Like Soil by Annalisa Dias.
This week we are joined by multidisciplinary artist and activist Kate Siahaan-Rigg to chat about her multinational upbringing, her life as a comedian, and just how queer life can be.
Connect with Kate on Instagram or visit her website.
Follow us on social media at @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week we are joined by visionary leader, creative activist, and interdisciplinary artist Yura Sapi to chat about their path to becoming a global citizen, building liberated spaces, and how we can prepare the world for the next seven generations through abundant creativity.
Connect with Yura on Instagram or visit their website.
Learn more about Liberarte at liberarteinc.org.
Follow us on social media at @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week we are joined by accomplished playwright and actor Ryan J. Haddad to chat about his love for performing from a very young age, his multiple autobiographical plays, and the enhancing power of building accessibility into a production.
Connect with Ryan on Instagram or visit his website.
Follow us on social media @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week we are joined by artistic producer, director, and dramaturg Sam Morreale to chat about their upbringing in New York State, the barriers many young folx of the global majority face when trying to break into the industry, and their journey to becoming a key player at the famed Soho Repertory Theatre.
Click HERE to reserve tickets to the Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival playing from October 23-29, 2023.
Click HERE to register for the Arts Administrators of Color Network's Annual Convening taking place November 11-12, 2023.
Connect with Sam on Instagram.
Follow us on social media @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week we are joined by creative producer, strategic consultant, and civic organizer Bryan Joseph Lee to chat about his background as a community organizer, the formation of his company CNTR ARTS and the subsequent TheUrbanX, and the ways of emergent strategy in the arts.
Visit cntrarts.com and theurbanx.org to learn more about the work Bryan is actively doing.
Follow Bryan on Instagram.
Follow us on social media @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week we are joined by Chicano artist and educator, Rio Alberto, and chat about his experience as a first-generation American, being trained as a performer from a very young age, and their journey to becoming a member of the Perseverance Theatre family.
GET TICKETS to see Rio in Hedwig and the Angry Inch now playing through October 22nd, 2023.
Follow Rio on Instagram.
Follow us on social media @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes.
This week we are joined by award-winning performance artist, author, and advocate Dane Figueroa Edidi and chat about the formation of the Black Trans Women at the Center virtual play festival at Long Wharf Theatre, the power of intersectional storytelling, and how institutions can do better to show up for their communities.
To tune in to the 4th Annual Black Trans Women at the Center visit www.longwharf.org on Thursday, September 28th, 2023 at 7:00PM EST. The program will remain available to watch on demand through Sunday, October 1st, 2023.
Follow Dane on Instagram and visit her website at www.ladydanefe.com.
Follow @mxituppod and @mxjoeyreyes on Instagram.