Coya Paz is an associate professor of Theatre Studies in The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is the artistic director of Free Street Theater and a Public Voices Fellow through The OpEd Project.
But for all of our creativity as artists, the cultural sector as a whole is caught in an ever-repeating pattern. Accolades, be they awards, newspaper reviews, or Best Of lists, go to the usual suspects. Funding and audiences follow, creating a closed circuit that serves the same people over and over again and leaves the rest of us to wonder when—or if—our stories will ever really matter in our country’s national narrative.
This is an omission with serious economic impact. Chicago has more than 250 professional theater companies and is home to the third largest arts economy in the country. We are also one of the most segregated cities in the country, and when support for the arts concentrates along a narrow geographic corridor, it impacts the economic and cultural health of the vast majority of neighborhoods in Chicago.
In the meantime, we will read the Oscar nominations and local arts reviews with a sigh, knowing that they aren’t made for us. Not yet. v
