Gateways Creation and Presentation

With support from the Ford Foundation, the Gateways Creation and Presentation was developed to preserve the history of borderlands cultural expressions, while also promoting contemporary cultural expressions through collaborations between the U.S. and Mexico.

The program consists of a three-month residency in San Antonio for the selected artists to collaborate on the creation and presentation of one multi-disciplinary production that focuses on U.S./Mexico border themes. Since 1996, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center has been able to create and present two works-in-progress and five premiere productions. In the fall of 1996, GCAC produced two works-in-progress: Curanderas: Serpents of the Clouds and De Jarocha a Pocha. The latter was selected to further develop the work into a Gateways multi-disciplinary premiere production, which was presented March 1997. The four other new works that have been produced under the Gateways Initiative include Yo, Casimiro Flores (Fall 1997); La Cumbre/The Summit (Spring 1998); Surcos de Oro/Watered with Tears (Fall 1999) and Santuarios (Fall 2001).

The two artists commissioned to collaborate as part of the Gateways 2003 program are local playwright and journalist Gregg Barrios and Mexican composer Olivia Revueltas. Both artists are collaborating on a work based on a little known aspect in the life of the American playwright Tennessee Williams. It details the inspiration he found in his long time relationship with two Mexican brothers, Pancho and Juan Rodriguez. This theater piece will provide young and old, Mexican or American, with inspiration for a better understanding of each other through artistic achievment.

The production is scheduled to premiere in 2004!