The $15,000 grant is from the Kansas City-based Mid-America Arts Alliance, which supports programs in Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. And it’ll be used to help fund the Latino Cultural Center‘s 2011 performance series, Sweet Dreams or Pesadillas? — which includes two, national touring acts: the Latina Dance Theater Project and solo artist Saulo Garcia.

The full release follows:

Latino Cultural Center awarded $15,000 grant by Mid-America Arts Alliance

Dallas (Texas) — The Latino Cultural Center announces that it has been awarded a $15,000 Community Engagement with Touring Artists grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance. This grant program supports activities that build new audiences, enrich the artistic experience through community outreach and educational programming, and create meaningful connections between community members and the artists. The Latino Cultural Center is one of three Texas organizations to receive this grant in 2011.

The Latino Cultural Center $15,000 grant will support its November 2011 performance series, Sweet Dreams or Pesadillas?. This series presents performances by two national touring artists: the Latina Dance Theater Project (a collective of dance artists from L.A., Tucson, Nashville and Rochester) and Saulo García (from Colombia via Miami). Inspired by contemporary society’s foibles, these artists follow the centuries-old artistic tradition of using the stage (be it comedy or drama) to address topics that are controversial or misunderstood. Topically, the Sweet Dreams or Pesadillas? performances address themes of current interest, calling attention to the critical issue of immigration, as well as other timely subjects such as environmental disparity and race / ethnic conflicts. Performances are scheduled for November 4-5 and November 18-19, 2011.

“The Latino Cultural Center is very appreciative of Mid-America Arts Alliance’s generous support of this program,” notes María Muñoz-Blanco, Dallas’ Director of Cultural Affairs. “The Center’s mission focuses on advancing Latino arts and culture in the community, offering our citizens opportunities to engage and enjoy the creative output of artists of Latino heritage. These two productions will bring to our city Latino artists from other parts of the U.S., expanding our community’s awareness of the depth of Latino talent in the country.”

The Latina Dance Theater Project (LDTP) takes its inspiration for The Slumber of Reason in Francisco de Goya’s celebrated Los Caprichos. Goya created his suite of etchings in a time of economic crisis and social unrest, using his creativity to denounce social abuses and his revulsion towards ignorance and intellectual oppression. The LDTP has created a new set of modern-day “caprichos,” where they explore the demons of contemporary society including immigration, environmental degradation, racism and technological alienation. Using movement, text (spoken and sung) and video, the piece features 10 vignettes from the darkest to the most absurdly humorous societal challenges. Slumber of Reason will be performed November 4-5, 2011.

Saulo García will perform his critically-acclaimed one-man show, El Insomnio Americano, (the “American Insomnia,” a play of words on the phrase the American Dream). First presented in 2004 in Miami, García has performed this show in theater festivals in New York, Miami and Washington, D.C., as well as in his native country. The performance is a tragic-comedy about the life of immigrants from Latin America in the U.S., using humor to reflect on the misunderstandings and difficulties that immigrants find as they jump into the unknown (a new country, new customs) often without a net. The artist uses humor to point out the differences (and parallels) of life in the native country and life in the adopted country, and interacts with the audience throughout the performance. El Insomnio Americano will be performed November 18-19, 2011.

Tickets for both performances are available for purchase at www.brownpapertickets.com or at the Latino Cultural Center. For additional information about the performances, please contact 214.671.0045.

About Mid-America Arts Alliance

The Mid-America Arts Alliance is a regional organized based in Kansas City, Missouri, which supports artistic programs in the states of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Mid-America Arts Alliance grants are made possible with generous underwriting by the National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and generous funding from Ross and Marianna Beach Foundation, Inc., Brown Foundation of Houston, Inc., Capitol Federal Foundation, Terrence and Catherine Ferguson, Francis Family Foundation, Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, Houston Endowment, Inasmuch Foundation, Kirkpatrick Family Foundation, Nancy and Peter Meinig, Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, and the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, Trustee. Mid-America Arts Alliance works in partnership with the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas; the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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