New Routes to Community Health gives voice to new leaders in immigrant communities across America.

On Friday, August 15th family, friends and many other members of the community gathered for a free event at the National Museum of Mexican Art to cheer about forty of the most amazing and enthusiastic youth performers. Jesús Sánchez directerd and trained these young men and women and help them create radionovelas about topics of importance to them and their community.

Meet Jesús Sánchez, Co-Director for Salud: Healing Through the Arts, a collaboration among Latinos Progresando’s Teatro Americano, Radio Arte and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, IL.

Program notes by Jesús Sánchez

I am delighted to introduce you to the most motivated, ambitious and intelligent students I have ever had the pleasure to work and share ideas with. I remember the first day I had an opportunity to meet with the students and how quickly we formed a sense of community.

Together we discussed ideas and experiences, during the discussion I told the students that I might be given credit for their hard work. I told them I would never take credit for their work and that they must take ownership for this project. It's amazing to me how students push themselves when they are given the opportunity to have complete control over their work. So I say now, each of the radionovelas was independently developed and the students are completely responsible, thus should get all the credit for this project. The students determined their own workload and began having a discussion amongst each other about the language that would be used to make the novelas. They concluded to double their workload by writing and recording radionovelas in Spanish and then translating them into English. Some of the issues discussed in the radionovelas are: domestic violence, alcoholism, language barriers, mental health, poverty issues, immigration status and sexuality. Each of the novelas is unique with different issues that our immigrant community faces. We were fortunate enough to be able to record the novelas in Radio Arte's recording Studios and edit in their computer labs. I would like the opportunity to thank Silvia Rivera, Tania Unzueta, Dulce Mora and Carlos Méndez for being patient while we (took over) worked in the studios and in the computer lab. Special thanks to Edy Domínguez for donating his time as he interned at Radio Arte and contributing immensely to this project. I am proud of the students for tackling such controversial topics that have hardly been discussed in or outside our community.

I am sure that you will understand how much of an honor it's been to work and share ideas with these youth. They and they alone deserve all the recognition for their SALUD: Healing Through the Arts radionovelas. Enjoy listening to them.

***************************************************************

Don't miss what Ricardo Gamboa, Director and instructor and Steven Beaudion Raidonovelas Director have to say about this powerful event.