Conversations with Artists ... Between Races

 

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips, poet Robert Krimi, musican Phillip Blanchett and others talk about what it means to be of Mixed Race.

Mixed Race is the fastest growing minority in America. The arts have opened up new ideas through colorblind casting, fusion in music, the visual arts and literature. Just as each racial/ethnic group influences and changes artistic styles and movements, Mixed Race artists help to create fusion and bridges cultural and traditional differences.

Hosted and produced by Dmae Roberts, "In the Mix: Conversations with Artists ... Between Races" is a personal exploration of Mixed Race. This hour-long documentary explores how artists and performers of Mixed Race deal with issues of identity, history and perspective, and how their art reflects these issues in different ways.

The idea that people can be of many races and also claim any of them, that our President is mixed race and African-American, is a stumbling block to many people's understanding of what it means to be a person of color.

Through the voices of artists who have dedicated their lives to building bridges and bringing to light interracial issues and themes, Roberts takes listeners on a journey to understanding what it means to be of Mixed Race.

Thomas Lauderdale and the band Pink Martini are internationally known and their concerts sell out everywhere. Pink Martini plays eclectic, original music in many languages and styles. Lauderdale is a Mixed Race Asian who was adopted and had little contact culturally with his ethnicity while growing up. He explains the idea behind his band's music:

"Everybody wants to be included, and everybody wants to be sort of ... invited to the party. That's definitely a huge part of the band and my life -- is this idea of being inclusive and being sensitive to other people's biographies and histories and problems that inform their every day movements."

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips played Ritchie Valens in the 1987 film, "La Bamba" even though he wasn't Latino. He says he's mostly Pilipino, but on his father's side, he's Scott, Irish and Cherokee: "Nobody can really place my ethnicity, which is a very good thing, I mean as far as an actor goes."

Phillips also talks about being a Mixed Race actor playing a character like King Author.

"In the Mix: Conversations with Artists ... Between Races" from PRI features artists of all different disciplines and races. The documentary features Lou Diamond Phillips, writer Lisa See, playwright Heather Raffo, conceptual artist/writer damali ayo, poet Robert Karimi, musician Phillip Blanchett, visual artist Phyllis Fast, Oregon Shakespeare actor Demetra Pittman and Thomas Lauderdale of the band Pink Martini.