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Encore Awards
| Arts Management Excellence |
| Recipient: |
Silvia Brito
Executive/Artistic Director
Thalia Spanish Theatre
|
| Year: |
1997 |
When Silvia Brito established the Thalia Spanish Theatre in Queens in 1977, it was the borough's only Spanish theatre. Twenty years later, Thalia is still the only Spanish theatre in Queens, serving a population of over 380,000 people from virtually every Spanish-speaking nation in the world. Under Ms. Brito's direction, Thalia has played a vital role in New York's celebrated Spanish theatre movement, which opened up the doors of the City's theatre community to audiences and artists who were excluded from the "mainstream" by language and cultural barriers.
As Executive/Artistic Director of Thalia Spanish Theatre, she has produced around 70 plays, Folklore Shows and zarzuelas (Spanish operettas). Ms. Brito has made Thalia "the cathedral of zarzuela" (El Diario/La Prensa), a nationally recognized producer of this unique genre of Spanish operetta, the only lyrical heritage of the Spanish stage.
Ms. Brito's leadership has earned Thalia 67 awards for artistic excellence, including the 1989 ENCORE Award of the Arts & Business Council, and 51 from ACE (Association of Critics of Entertainment).
Ms. Brito has received citations from Queens Borough President Claire Shulman and Governor Mario Cuomo, and received HISPANIC Magazine's 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award, in honor of her "significant contributions" and "positive impact on the Hispanic community." Thanks to her management, in 1989 Thalia Spanish Theatre was one of 50 organizations chosen nationwide for the Advancement Grant Program of the National Endowment for the Arts.
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