Media Arts + Performance

A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
Our Home on Native Land
#HonorNativeLand – US Department of Arts and Culture
Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project
North American Indian Center of Boston
United American Indians of New England
Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness
Land Reparations and Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit
Reclaiming Native Truth
Indigenous People’s Day Massachusetts

Tribal Communities in Massachusetts

Nipmuc Nation
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
Masphee Wampanoag Tribe

Taíno Afroborikua and award-winning choreographer Mar Parrilla is the founding artistic director of Danza Orgánica. She is a proud mother, community organizer, and aspiring herbalist. After attaining a BA in Languages (Italian, French) from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mar crossed the ocean to Nueva York, where she completed a Master’s degree in Dance Education at New York University. Now a Boston resident, Parrilla is a recipient of several awards from the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Boston Foundation, among others. She is the recipient of the Brother Thomas Fellowship Award from the Boston Foundation, and the Outstanding Community Arts Collaboration Award in Dance from the Arts/Learning Organization. Mar is also the founder of the acclaimed program Dance for Social Justice™, as well as the founding producer of the Boston-based annual festival: We Create! Parrilla is a luminary artist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where she has been commissioned to create artistic work- and continues to work with in several capacities. Mar Parrilla/ Danza Orgánica received a Creative Development Residency at Jacob’s Pillow, where they also performed at the Inside/Out Festival. In 2018, Mar was selected for the city of Boston Artist in Residence program, with a focus on Environmental Justice. Currently, she is collaborating with Puerto Rico-based artists on a residency-based multiyear cultural exchange towards the development of Melaza: a project that explores the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States of North America. She is also working in close collaboration with members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe, through a multiyear partnership between Danza Orgánica, the Aquinnah Cultural Center, and The Yard.  Mar has been a dance educator in Boston and NYC public schools, Boston University, New York State University at Stony Brook, Wesleyan University, and Roxbury Community College, to name a few. Currently, she is faculty at Emerson College.

Mar’s production history includes annual company concerts since 2007, as well as the annual festival: We Create! (running since 2014). She is also the founder and curator of the Dance Research Online Forum- a site dedicated to free and progressive dance education.

Marshall Hughes is founder and director of Opera unMet, an urban opera company that has performed in major venues over the past decades, including the Hatch Shell, Symphony Hall, and First Night. Marshall conducted SANS, an International Choral Exchange Choir, for over fifteen years, leading tours to the former Soviet Union, Russia, The Balkans and China.  He has performed extensively on the international stage, including Europe and the United States, and has directed major theater productions at several colleges, including Emerson College, New England Conservatory of Music and Wheelock College. He has been on the faculties of several colleges teaching theater, music and dance, including MIT, Wheelock, RCC, Boston and New England Conservatory, and Emmanuel College. He has numerous awards for his critically acclaimed work with RRT, including the Kenneth A. MacDonald Award for theater excellence. He serves on the boards of OrigiNation Dance, UUUM Roxbury, and Castle Of Our Skins.

Ellice Patterson is the founder/executive and artistic director of Abilities Dance, a Boston-based dance company that welcomes artists with and without disabilities. She is also the executive director of BalletRox, a Boston-based dance education program to provide access to high quality dance education to youth within Boston Public Schools and in our after-school program in Jamaica Plain. Outside of self-produced Abilities Dance’s shows, her choreography has appeared in the MFA, Links Hall in Chicago, Gibney Dance in NYC, The Series: Vol IV at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre in NYC, and more. She has given lectures and workshops at schools, universities, and organizations across the country, including Harvard Graduate School of Education, Fidelity Investments, Boston University, and more. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Wellesley College and her Master of Science in Management Studies from Boston University Questrom School of Business.

Keith Mascoll (SAG-AFTRA, AEA) is an Actor, Producer, Mental Health advocate, Sneaker-head, and Founder of the Triggered Project. Keith is a co-host of the Living a Triggered Life Podcast with his wife Roxann, and a Luminary for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Keith strives to use his art for social change in the Black and Brown community. As a survivor of sexual abuse Keith hopes to help end the stigma that surrounds mental health and Black and Brown men. Keith is also a co-founder of  professional black theater company, The Front Porch Arts Collective. Look for Keith in the lead role in the movie Confused by Love on Amazon Prime, and as Applesauce in The Polka King on Netflix. Learn more about Keith at keithmascoll.com.