Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[ANC1D]

For Immediate Release
Contact: Jennifer McGuigan Babcock (202-271-3549)
Sep 15, 2003


MOUNT PLEASANT ANC AWARDS GRANT TO SOL Y SOUL FOR CREATIVE OUTREACH ON HOUSING ISSUES

WASHINGTON, (DC) --- On September 8th the Mount Pleasant ANC (ANC-1D) awarded Sol y Soul a grant for $1,000 for their El Barrio Street Theater Program. The El Barrio Street Theater is a performance troupe that has learned the techniques of street theater from throughout the Americas and uses them to create skits exploring community issues. For the last four years, the El Barrio Street Theater program has focused on tenants’ rights, rising housing costs, and displacement issues in DC. With the grant awarded by the ANC, Sol y Soul will tailor the El Barrio script to address specific issues in Mount Pleasant and will perform six fifteen-minute performances for the Mount Pleasant Community.

“The ANC's housing committee knows how difficult, and how important, it is to get advocacy information to everyone,” explained ANC Commissioner and Housing Committee Chair Jennifer McGuigan Babcock, “and street theater is a proven method to reach out to parts of the community that are often overlooked.”

The El Barrio Street Theater performances will incorporate music, theater, and puppets to educate Mount Pleasant residents about their housing options and rights, and will be performed in a mix of English and Spanish. Sol y Soul will also work with the ANC to identify informational literature to be distributed during their performances.

“The whole idea,” explained Sol y Soul Artistic Director Quique Aviles, “is that through performance we give people a sense of the power that is within themselves – because most tenants really don't know anything about forming tenant organizations or even about the rights they have under the law.”

Dates and locations for the El Barrio Street Theater performances will be publicized once they have been finalized.

This grant award reflects the Mount Pleasant ANC's special focus on housing issues.

The Mount Pleasant ANC is an elected body representing the residents of Mount Pleasant. It advises D.C. government agencies and the city council on issues involving its constituents, and is a formal part of the D.C. government. In addition, the ANC awards limited grants to community-based initiatives on a regular basis. The commission holds public meetings on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 pm at 3166 Mount Pleasant Street N.W.

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