Meet the new faces shaping South Dallas’ cultural landscape
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Three newcomers to Dallas recently arrived on the scene at South Dallas’ key arts and cultural institutions: the African-American Museum, the Forest Theater and the South Dallas Cultural Center.
The City of Dallas hired VanAnthony Williams in June as the new general manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center after John Spriggins’ departure. After a nationwide search, in July the African-American Museum made Lisa Brown Ross its second president and CEO, after the retirement of Dr. Harry Robinson Jr. And just recently, Forest Forward selected Nijeul X as its inaugural artistic director.
Dallas Free Press invited Williams, Ross and X to sit down and discuss everything from their own artistic backgrounds to the responsibilities of their institutions to care for artists, and from how they plan to involve South Dallas students and residents in their spaces to what they have planned for next summer’s FIFA Fan Festival at Fair Park, when hundreds of thousands of visitors will descend on our neighborhood.
It was the first time for all three to meet in person, and at Williams’ invitation, they convened at South Dallas Cultural Center’s black box theater on opening night of the State Fair of Texas — no small feat for recent transplants from Fort Worth, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles whose institutions are either in, adjacent to or down the street from the annual fair traffic.
Watch their conversation below.
Additional reporting by Jennie Trejo and Keri Mitchell
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Prior to joining the Dallas Free Press as a visual journalist, Camilo Diaz Jr. was a video intern at KERA, the NPR and PBS member station for North Texas, where he developed a deep appreciation for video production, making his inner child smile by working at a station he watched growing up. He also worked as a multimedia fellow at the Fort Worth Report, covering local news in his hometown. As a teenager, he began documenting his community and identity through photography, leading him to the world of photojournalism. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in photojournalism from the University of North Texas.
Beat:Â Visual and multimedia approach to capturing community and civic life
The images of our communities that appear in local news media are mostly of crime and blight, which doesn’t at all reflect their beauty and assets. This visual journalist sees neighbors and captures community and civic life in all of its facets. The journalist is a multimedia reporter with a photographic eye, who has the skills to meld images, video and audio for storytelling, and the desire to reach under-covered audiences.
