Cimarronas periphery. A space to believe, a space to dream, a space to join all

In this fourth article we wanted to know the experience of the Periferia Cimarronas project. A group that made the decision (political) a few years ago to open a residence and programming space in Barcelona. A space with the focus on people with differentiated, migrant and queers, groups, groups that are with a great lack of accessibility to existing circuits, and from Periferia Cimarronas they want to respond to this challenge offering a space where not only It can be created and tried, but also to receive a fair remuneration for the work done.

Periferia Cimarronas: A space to believe, a space to dream, a space to join all.
Look Silvia Albert Sopale

Before you start reading, I invite you to do a memory exercise: remember the last 10 theater shows you’ve seen. Better yet, try to remember those you have seen in 2024, I hope they have been many. More or less remember how many women were part of the creations? Yes, parity in the performing arts is increasing, but … how many of these people who were part of the creation were racialized women? Of this amount, could you say how many Afro -Spanish women were? Now think about the theater rooms of your town. How many are there? How many of these have you seen that it is programmed to racialized artists or creators? How many times a year happens? One, for the day against the elimination of racism?

If you think that “there are few racialized artists” as a justification for their low presence in the theater rooms, I agree halfway through, but we explore this statement. In Spain, there are less than 10 racialized playwrights (Counting, to understand, as a playwright, the people who have published and released work). The number increases if we are talking about directors, and it grows considerably if we include the actresses. It is possibly tripled if we count the men. Are we talking about about 200 people?

According to the National Statistics Institute, 11.4 % of the population are migrants, 5.4 million. People like me are not counted in this 11.4 %. Because in Spain there is no ethnic and racial census, we cannot know how many racialized people reside here. But I will allow myself to take as an estimate of the High Council of the Black Communities in Spain, which calculated in about two million the presence of aphrodescendants in Spain. Do you not think that there are less than 10 playwrights between two million? Why is there such a small representation of racialized people on stage?

One of my teachers at the Interpretation School in Murcia said: “The stage should be such a thin rope that no neci should dare to climb it.” Many years I wondered: What did you mean by that? Who were these necis? For many years I thought that if racialized people were not on stage, it was because they were neches. In fact, I was a neck if I thought about climbing a stage. Thinking about making theater goes from being a game, an after-school, to a dream for many young whites; For racialized ones it is not a possibility.

The lack of opportunities and the weight of perfection are deeply rooted in the experience of black people within the artistic field. In many cases, we have to face the difficult reality that, having a single opportunity to show our work, we must be perfect. We cannot fail. Instead of being seen as constantly evolving artists, we are perceived as representatives of the entire community, say black, gypsy, Asian …, an overwhelming burden that endangers our mental health and career if we do not meet expectations. from the industry.

In pressure, we must add insecurity. We cannot risk experiencing or trying new ideas, as any error could close the door that we are so difficult to open. Nor can we bring our imaginary to the performing arts, as we are at risk of advancing the mentality of most white criticism, and that our artistic pieces are not understood by the theater personalities and, therefore, , not programmed, although these pieces may generate a great internal mobilization in the public. And because it will always fly over us the shadow of suspicion: Could our proposals be contributing nothing new to the cultural landscape or may they not understand racist?

White creators are not called “not belonging” to the art world to make mistakes, nor are they denied access to opportunities If your first proposals are not perfect. Their pieces, more or less, are judged by people who are part of their worldview. They have the opportunity to research, try and create without the burden of representing the whitage, which increases the advantage of developing professionally.

At the beginning of this article I used the word Afroespanyola, which today feels very little and some people do not know what it means. But if I say African American, we know what we are referring to. In this article I cannot extend in depth on the roots of the history of the black people in Spanish territory, so I will leave some names resonating: Juan de Pareja, Santa Clara de Chiquiaba, Céspedes …

If you had to detain reading and look for any of these names, one of the reasons could be the lack of aphrodescent playwrights in the performing arts, artists who can tell their lives in the first person.

This is where the need to create arises Periphery Cimarronas. It is not just a theater to show artistic work of racialized, migrated and queers, but also becomes a Space for experimentation and creation, where the fear of failure and mediocrity are welcome but not protagonists. Where the stage is exposed to the stage with truth.

Where we try to heal atavistic wounds. We understand the error and embrace it as a natural part of the creative process. We address residence and creation processes from a holistic perspective.

A crucial aspect for all artists is the precariousness of the sector. For racialized artists, this precariousness is usually greater, because they are mostly from migrant families and, despite some exceptions, the maintenance of families falls on the person who works, which does not usually provide them with very lined situations. Economically. Racialized people are difficult to have access to performing arts training due to language, availability or resources, factors that affect to a lesser extent to white people, fact that contributes to The Elization of the Performing Artswhere the lack of funding becomes an even larger barrier.

Many racialized people are forced to choose between engaging in artistic creation or ensuring their economic maintenance. Artistic work is often a passion, But also a constant struggle to reach the end of the month. This limits them to their chances of engaging in their projects fully, as the priority raises money at home. The lack of resources and the need to meet basic needs create an even greater disparity in access to opportunities within the artistic sector.

From the periphery Cimarronas we want to respond to this challenge offering a space where you can not only create and try, but also to receive a fair remuneration for the work done. This remuneration not only validates artistic work, but also encourages to imagine the performing arts as a possible professional field.

We do not perceive art only as an aesthetic exercise, but also as a work that deserves to be paid. Racialized people have had to fight historically so that our work is recognized as legitimate (Hence the concept of having a black who writes for another person), And Periphery Cimarronas seeks to offer a space that claims not only artistic creation, but also the value of work.

When receiving a remuneration for the task being carried out, they are recognized as professionals, not as people who have to constantly demonstrate their worth. This has a transformative effect on both the artists and the public, who begins to see us as active agents in the cultural world.

Cimarronas consider it essential to have the opportunity to be the protagonists of our own stories. The narratives must be defined by those who live them, not those who are outside the communities. Historically, we have been explained and represented by others, subtracting agency capacity. The change towards greater autonomy in artistic creation and cultural representation is essential because we not only occupy a place in the performing arts, but we can also define the type of art we want to create and share with the world. So that cultural rights are also a possibility for us.

In an article entitled “Denzel Washington could never have existed in Spain”, Moha Gerehou reflects very correctly, while echoing the denunciation of actress Yolanda Sey in the delivery of Gaudí Awards, on how structural racism has limited the Possibility that black people achieve successful positions and visibility in the cultural and media field in Spain. Gerehou states that while in the United States figures like Denzel Washington have been able to consolidate as references, in Spain racist structures have prevented the emergence of similar references.

Periferia Cimarronas seeks to generate possibilities from an Afrofeminist perspective. In a cultural world where women, especially black women, gypsies, Asian …, have been historically relegated to the last ranks, to silence; This space is proposed to generate the structure so that, in addition to Denzel Washington, many Davis violas can exist in Spain, Whoopis Goldbergs, Octival Spencers, Lavernes Coxs. So that Spain can be a country for black artists.

Actress and playwright Afroespanyola. Graduated from the ESAD of Murcia. Degree in Meisner Technique with Javier Galito-Cava. Postgraduate course in Expressive Arts directed by Consuelo Trujillo. He complements his training with various seminars and interpretation workshops and dramaturgy workshops in the Beckett Obrador. Creator of It is not a country for blackfires, Blackface and other shame, Parau to stop me, Lötò – a co -branch ritual ritual. Founder of Periferia Cimarronas, Hibiscus Association of Afro -Spanish and Aphrodescending, Black Ink and member of TICTAC (Workshop on Critical Critics Transfeminist Critics Combative Combative Anti -racist).

Article in collaboration with the Red Scénica Magazine