Today we’d like to introduce you to Nora Montañez Patterson.
Hi Nora, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Lima, Peru and immigrated to the States at the age of three. Upon our arrival my artist parents found their community performing with a folkloric troupe called Danzas y Estampas del Peru. They performed all around New York and Jersey, so I was practically raised in theaters, dressing rooms, restaurants and dance floors. Singing and dancing was a way of communicating in my family. I didn’t start performing until my sophomore year of high school. However, I had been writing plays, monologues and even interviewing myself in journals since I was 12 years old. I wanted to be an artist! When I moved to Minneapolis, I was blessed have found an enriching theater community. I worked with Theatre Latte Da, Children’s Theatre, Park Square Theatre, Mu Performing Arts, Pillsbury House Theatre, Guthrie Theater and Mixed Blood Theatre.
Minnesota was the place where I was able to expand my artistic value. While living in the Southside of Chicago, I began to focus on being an Artevista (Artist/Activist) where I began to teach and create a social justice theater curriculum. In Chicago is where I began writing my first one-woman show, Sabor A Mi which is about a mother who passes down her immigration story to her child. A gift to my daughter. Moving back to Minneapolis, allowed me to refocus my artistic path so I founded the Alliance of Latine Minnesota Artists (ALMA), which facilitates alliances among the spectrum of Latine artists and practices. ALMA grew out of a need to center our stories in a time when many of us felt unseen in our communities.
I do not shy away from shining a light on our rich history, the stories of our ancestors and highlighting our rituals. I am currently in the process of creating a piece around the women of the Brown Berets as Artist-In-Residence at the University of Minnesota Department of Chicano and Latino Studies. So, what I am most proud of is the continuous dedication to highlighting the ever growing representation of Latino stories.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
At my first High School audition, the director told me to “Hit the yellow brick road” after not having been cast in the show. Throughout my career, that same idea has been projected on me several times. If I didn’t quit then why quit now? I briefly dealt with homelessness in college, worked while trying to pay for my studies, jumped through hoops to become a citizen, balanced being a full-time artist with parenting a mixed raced child during a pandemic. All the while protesting, advocating and creating art in community while also teaching theater in a high school. The road has not been smooth, but what meaningful life ever is? These challenges and struggles are part of my story.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a multi hyphenated artist, meaning I create art and share my art in various ways. I am a playwright, a director, an educator, a singer and cajon player as well as a lapsed dancer and mediocre knitter. Creating art is like language to me…what other ways do I want to communicate? Currently, I am communicating with the world through writing our stories. My writing is rooted at the intersection of self-excavation, cultural translations, and transformation. I highlight the complexity and daily-living nuances of the Latine experience through music, rituals and language.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I do not ascribe to the thoughts of “I did it on my own”. I think every person who I had the honor in crossing paths with has provided me a gift or influenced me. However, there are those people who have walked alongside me with a Peruvian Bandera and a fist in the air cheering me along the way. Those people continue to be my collaborators and accomplices in my life as an artist, as a mother and advocate. Some of these are inherited family and others chosen family. One of those people I married and one I gave birth to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://noraisabelmontanez.wixsite.com/website
- Other: https://pwcenter.org/profile/nora-patterson
Image Credits
Rick Spaulding
