Myrna Salazar (credit Joe Mazza/brave lux inc.)
Co-Founder and Director of the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), Myrna Salazar has passed away suddenly at the age of 75, the Alliance announced on Thursday in a Facebook post and press release.
The statement states:
It is with great sadness that the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) announces that Myrna Salazar, its beloved Co-Founder and Executive Director, passed away on Thursday, August 3, 2022, two weeks after celebrating her 75th birthday. .
Salazar will always be a Chicago legend, leaving a legacy as a Latina trailblazer who shattered glass ceilings throughout her career. Until her last day, Salazar advocated for the equality and representation of Latino artists in the mainstream media and on Chicago theater stages.
“It is with deep sadness and shock that we share with you the sudden death of our dear friend Myrna Salazar,” he said. Marty Castro, President of the Board of CLATA and President and CEO of Castro Synergies, LLC. “To say Myrna was a force of nature would be an understatement. She has been a leader, staunch advocate, change maker and a strong voice for the Latino community on issues from education to the arts. She was and always will be a part of our family and we mourn her loss. CLATA is part of her legacy and we will continue to work in her memory to ensure her continued success.”
Carlos Tortolero, President, CEO and Founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art, said, “Myrna was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime, super-arts activist. In just a few years, she made the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance a cultural force in Chicago, across the country and throughout Latin America. She is truly a Chicago cultural treasure and will be sorely missed.”
A native of Puerto Rico and raised in Chicago, Salazar began her career as an Economic Development Specialist at the West City Economic Development Corporation. In this capacity, she generated over $10 million in private and public sector housing procurement and business development. During that time, she completed a two-year fellowship with the National Economic Development Council and was appointed by then-Chicago Mayor, Jane Byrneon the Chicago Board of Education where she served for five years.
Salazar was a marketing and advertising expert with over 35 years of experience. She was the Founder and President of Salazar & Navas Talent Agency Inc., where she successfully secured contracts for over 300 professional actors, models and spokespeople for a client base of 50+ Fortune 500 companies. She proudly boasted that she had nurtured and launched the TV/film careers of several local actors working in both coasts like Justina Machado, Aimee Garcia, Raul Esparza and Nadine Velazquez, to name a few.
From 2007 to 2011, Salazar served as Director of Development and Marketing at the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago (ILCC), which produces the Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF), among other programs.
In 2016, Salazar co-founded and became the Executive Director of the Chicago Latino Alliance (CLATA) as a non-profit organization launched to help lead the city’s local Latino theater community to a more prominent level. She co-founded CLATA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with three of Chicago’s most prominent Latino art organizations: the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA), the International Latino Cultural Center (ILCC), and Puerto Rican. Arts Alliance (PRAA).
CLATA’s signature program is Destinos, Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. Now in its fifth year, destinations is an annual worldwide festival that showcases Chicago’s Latino theater artists and companies alongside the best Latino artists from the US and Latin America. The 5th destinations takes place from 14 September – 16 October 2022 at venues across the city. Additionally, under Salazar’s leadership, CLATA has provided local Latino theater groups with ongoing organizational and financial support and has worked diligently to create a permanent home for Chicago’s Latino theater artists.
Fittingly, Salazar was immortalized in a Chicago scene and appeared on stage New York Timesas the inspiration for the character “Myrna”, the first Puerto Rican Queen of Chicago Day Parade, crowned at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom in 1966, in Theater viewHit musical of 2017 Havana Madrid by Chicago theater artist Sandra Delgado.
Salazar has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions from many organizations. Most recently, in June 2022, she was named a Sor Juana Award recipient by the National Museum of Mexican Art for her outstanding impact on Chicago’s arts and culture industry. Other honors include recognition from the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Illinois ASPIRA, Latino Fashion Week, Teatro Vista and, in 2019, in commemoration of Women’s History Month, the Woman Award Outstanding for Excellence in Music and Theater Arts by the Hon Dorothy Brownformer Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, among many others.
Salazar held a Bachelor’s degree from the Regent’s External Program from the State University of New York and an Associate’s degree from Columbia College Chicago in Broadcast Communications and Arts Management. She also completed a two-year seminar series in Capacity Building/Arts Management at the Kennedy Center. She served on the board of Choose Chicago and the League of Chicago Theaters and is a member of the Mayor Lightfoot Cultural/arts committee.
Salazar is survived by her children Yvette (Steve) Sharp, Iliana (Greg) Romero, stepfather Christopher Dovalina, nephews and nieces Ariela Romero, Andres Romero, Gabriela Bibbens and Gabe Sharpher mom Carmen Rosado Felicianosister Carmen Salazar. She is survived by her first husband, Florentino (Rosellen) Mitchell and preceded in death by her second husband, Cesar Dovalinaformer owner of the Spanish-language newspaper, La Raza, and La Margarita restaurants.
Information regarding funeral services is forthcoming.
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Salazar was extremely passionate about her causes and explained why the Arts are essential in an interview with Illinois Humanities in 2020, “The arts, in general, are significant in our daily lives. Every waking moment brings you an artist, it could be a graphic on your phone, the food you eat at a restaurant, a program you’re watching on TV or the music you listen to on the way to work. The arts allow the general population to connect and be part of something bigger than ourselves.
Theater, I strongly believe, nurtures this vital human connection on a visceral level. As we come together in a space from our different walks of life, without distractions, we are in that moment united in one experience. An experience that can create empathy and challenges us to understand ourselves and others. Together, we can explore cultural differences that also emphasize our own
the similarities. What we see on stage can heal us, move us and inspire us to achieve things we could never imagine for ourselves.
In general, theater and the arts are essential. For the Latino community, and any other community of color, representation in the Arts is essential. Destinos is one of the few places where the vibrancy, talent, and diversity of Latino American and international experiences are showcased for and by Latino artists.”
Speaker Lori Lightfoot, Congresswoman chuy garciaand vice mayor of Chicago Samir Mayekar everyone paid their respects on Twitter:
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