The editorial categories are research topics that have guided researchers during the recovery phase and continue to be the impetus behind the Documents Project’s digital archive and the Critical Documents book series. Developed by the project’s Editorial Board, each of the teams analyzed this framework and adapted it to their local contexts in developing their research objectives and work plans during the Recovery Phase. Learn more on the Editorial Framework page.
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In this statement—addressed to the Task Force on Hispanic-American Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts—the group Nuestras Artes describes the inequitable context in Michigan for Latinos and Latino culture (the authors use the term Raza for Latino, which encompasses Chicanos, Latinos, and Puerto Ricans), and outlines the following mission: To form a network of Latino artists and organizations, encompassing performing, literary, and visual arts, with the purpose of promoting Latino art; and, in the process, to forward a set of values which promote unity among these organizations and artists, freedom, accessibility, integrity, and the evolution of “the Raza aesthetic.”
The organization Nuestras Artes announced their formation and purpose with this document, which was presented to the Task Force on Hispanic-American Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts at a hearing in Detroit, Michigan, on September 17, 1978. Nuestras Artes was an umbrella organization formed by art and activist organizations in Michigan to promote Latino art and culture, including Arte Nuevocano of Grand Rapids, the Raza Art and Media Collective of Ann Arbor, and the Chicano Art and Literary Collective of Lansing. Individual members of Nuestras Artes, listed at the end of the document, included Ana L. Cardona, Julio Perazza, and Jesse Gonzales.