Producing Counternarratives

As arts organizations evolve from makeshift startups to cultural pillars in their communities, founding values can serve as a "north star" for navigating succession planning and organizational growth. How can organizations use the aspirations of their company's leadership, artistic vision, and socio-political values to help guide future directions? Researcher Raquel Jimenez, Ph.D., worked with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, to learn more.

Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater formed in 2014, cementing the union of two distinct theater companies founded in New York, in 1979 and 1967 respectively. The companies joined forces around a common mission to provide a platform for sharing Puerto Rican/Latinx history and culture and to broaden professional pathways for Puerto Rican/Latinx artists. 

The company’s three leaders, all of whom moved to New York from Puerto Rico in their early 20s, were part of an activist generation who turned to cultural production as a force for change. Their goal was to build a company where they didn’t have to check their identity at the door and could feel at home, and where they could also engage with multiple generations of the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York City and the United States.

By using ensemble-based musical theater and storytelling, the theater company challenges disparaging narratives about Puerto Ricans and their history and centralizes perspectives that are missing in the public discourse. The leaders see the creation of these counternarratives as a central tool for engaging audiences and potentially shining new light on the causes and consequences of social inequities. They can also serve as a "cultural forging activity" to help people see how their own experiences are shared with their communities.

Why does this matter?

Culturally specific, community-based arts organizations often leverage art to promote authentic and dignified representations of communities of color. Research and documentation can help catalog an organization’s goals, methods, and ways of assessing their impact and can provide vital tools to inform succession planning and future development.