“El Pasado y El Presente” (The Past & The Present) is Rattletree's latest exploration of the relationship between the youth of today and their elders. In light of the increased scrutiny of Austin’s immigrant community, Joel Laviolette (Artistic Director of Rattletree) wanted to know how families were coping.
Through conversations with Karen Green (Family Literacy Manager at El Buen Samaritano - (https://elbuen.org/), Joel learned that many of the stories, ways of life, and cultural insights of the older generations of the predominantly Latino immigrants she works with are not being passed on to their children.
“El Pasado y El Presente” is an exciting project that will facilitate that exchange directly between mothers and their children. Rattletree partnered with Karen and fifteen Latino children taking part in El Buen Samaritano’s 2018 Summer Camp Program.
The children and mothers were interviewed about differences in their childhoods in Texas versus the childhoods that their mothers experienced in their countries of origin.
Rattletree has incorporated excerpts from the voice recordings into the music. Photos and videos from the project have been incorporated into the video projection mapping during the public performances.
Tickets will be sold by donation. The children and families who were involved in the creation of the project will be invited to attend as honored guests.
Joel, Rattletree, and Karen hope that this experience will spark more interest and dialog between the different generations so that this exchange may continue well beyond the completion of this project.
This project has been generously supported by the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division.