Community Curators
for the UnCommon Corner
Ágora Cultural Architects
Ágora Cultural Architects is a women-owned cultural business, founded in March 2019 to be the partner of Latinx arts and culture. We create, empower, and promote the sustainability of the makers of Latin American culture in the US and Puerto Rico. We do that by optimizing tools for creators and organizations to fulfill their goals, namely: audience building; events, audiovisual and literary production; funding; and professional development. Ágora was founded in March 2019 by: Beba Rivera, a communications and production manager, and Elsa Mosquera-Sterenberg, a bridge-building cultural jedi, Beba and Elsa joined forces to accelerate the creative ways in which Latinx culture can be seen and enjoyed. Together, they have assembled a dynamic team of rebels and insurgents that enjoy creative challenges.
BAMS Fest
Boston Art, Music, and Soul Fest is a cultural movement led by Greater Boston Black and Brown artists, culture makers and creative entrepreneurs who are on the front lines of racial equity, spatial justice, and economic empowerment.
BAMS Fest is a nonprofit organization that breaks down racial and social barriers to arts, music, and culture across Greater Boston. Through edutainment (education + entertainment), strategic partnerships and cultural programming, we celebrate and support both artists and audiences, with an emphasis on Black and Brown voices, perspectives, and artistry.
Departure Arts
OUR MISSION: Departure Arts builds community through facilitating creative collaborations, amplifying historically underrepresented artistic voices, and supporting artistic risk-taking for Boston area artists, organizations, and audiences.
OUR VISION: Departure Arts believes in the unifying power of the performing and visual arts to connect our community – both audiences and artists. For our audiences, we look to increase access to the arts by presenting in non-traditional venues, hosting local artists, and building collaborations across art forms and disciplines. For our artists, we provide space for artists to take artistic risks, not often afforded to creatives, that support the development and expansion of their career, network, and art.
OUR COMMUNITY: Departure Arts is proud to participate in the Mass Cultural Council’s Card to Culture Program, where all of our events are pay-what-you-can. The Card to Culture program is a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program by extending free admission to our events for all cardholders.
HipStory
HipStory LLC. is a digital media agency & incubator creating, curating, and highlighting unique, innovative, and inspiring art. We are redefining the future history of media by creating products that cultivate stories through digital media and event curation. Our work is rooted in fostering a creative environment where people can explore their vision freely, safely, and fully.
First as an album title for Boston bred hip hop crew Valid-Dictorians, HipStory became a collective of musicians committed to the culture. Beginning in 2012 HipStory through music performances and production, film, and event creation and curation,developed relationships and sought to create opportunities with the Boston community that they knew: Black, Brown, First nation, immigrant, LGBTQIA creatives. As HipStory The collective’s vision clarified as the need of the community became more clear- the Boston creatives in their circle voices were often used, rarely recognized, and largely unpaid. We became focused on creating spaces that would change this narrative. To highlight the stories of historically erased peoples, giving space to our voices, our experiences, our celebration, our fears, we began to shift to a digital media agency and incubator highlighting the rich culture, artistry, and economic potential of the Greater Boston area. In 2022 we officially became HipStory LLC – a digital media agency and incubator highlighting the rich culture, artistry, and economic potential of the Greater Boston area. We serve a mixture of businesses, nonprofits, brands, and creatives to amplify the voices of the BIPOC community through music and film production, audio and visual services, and event curation.
Maria Hendricks
Maria Hendricks (Assonet & Mashpee Wampanoag; She, Her/s; EMC) is a proud polyglot, afroindigenous artist and activist. You may have seen her as Dr. Van Helsing in Dracula at the Umbrella Center for the Arts in the fall of 2022. She was also nominated for an Elliot Norton Award for her portrayal of Mother in the Musical Passing Strange. As an actor/singer, she has performed on stages throughout New England, the East Coast and South Dakota. She has also done TV, Film & Voiceover. Most recently she has been an active part of the BIPOC cohort for Cultural Competency in audio description; working extensively at A.R.T this season. She has also spent the last 2 seasons at New Repertory Theatre in the role of Resident Artistic Advisor as part of a new co-lateral model of artistic direction where her community focus and work to provide platforms to underrepresented voices/groups has greatly improved access and agency for many, including a slowly growing team of Native Creatives and working with Watertown residents in the process of unerasure of their local indigenous history.
Office of the Arts
The UnCommon Corner is produced by Emerson College’s Office of the Arts. The Office of the Arts exists to serve Emerson College students, faculty and staff, the Greater Boston community, and the field of performance practice through:
ArtsEmerson: Our professional presenting and producing program, presenting the world on stage and screen.
HowlRound: A communication platform that connects the Office of the Arts to the national (and international) efforts to develop a commons-based approach to performance practice.
Stewardship of our Spaces: supporting activities that connect the facilities of the Office of the Arts to both college and community events not produced or presented by other components of our Office.
We see our work in service of the college, the public, and the arts—prioritizing community engagement with our Boston neighbors, national dialogue, shared field-wide learning, and curricular engagement that connect students with our work. We operate from the assumption that the arts belong to everyone. Every decision we make, every new programming choice and operational strategy, emerges from that conviction.