On September 16th, 2023, The Money Studio presented Palomitas de la Revolución. A curated art experience celebrating powerful Latina women throughout history. The event showcased work by creatives from Inglewood, South LA, and East LA.

The event took place at the historic Miracle Theater, Inglewood’s oldest theater.

Services

Branding
Strategy
Identity
Project Management
Social Media Strategy

Design
Collateral

Environmental
Space activation
Artwork and installations

Goals

Uplift ING’s Latinx Community

Exhibit Latinx artists (5 Inglewood based artists)

Collab with Latinx small businesses & artisans

Activate all three spaces at The Miracle Theater

A primary example of Inglewood’s diversity.

Challenges

Silenced Latine Community
Making up most of the Inglewood’s population by 49.3%, the community remains in the shadows. Primarily because generations conceiving of migrants are pre-conditioned to keep their head down and opinions to themselves.

Three Spaces at The Miracle Theater
The Miracle Theater consist of three spaces: The M Bar (Lobby), the theater, and their outdoor backyard space. In the past The Miracle hadn’t found a way to activate all three spaces without people getting stuck in one space.

Word of Mouth
How do you tell a silenced community to present itself? We decided to write and direct a film that would involve the local community. On the days we went out to shoot, we also used it as an opportunity to go door to door in Inglewood’s Latine community to invite and educate people about the show.

Ticket Giveaway
Our media sponsor did a ticket giveaway on the radio 2 weeks leading up to the event. We also reached out to local schools so they could raffle of pairs of tickets.

Free Admission for youth
The average family household income in Inglewood is roughly $63,000. We made admission free for anyone under 18 years old. We wanted to make sure entire families could attend the event. A family of five could easily afford two adult tickets, but paying for five tickets could easily make or break their bank. 

Activating 3 spaces
In the past The Miracle had difficulty activating all three spaces: The MBar, the theater, and their backyard.  We created a natural flow of events that occurred one space at a time. Starting with a performance at the MBar, followed by a performance, film, and a mariachi concert inside the theater. To ultimately having the mariachi, lead the crowd of 400+ people to the backyard to enjoy the outdoor gallery. We left the film playing on loop inside the theater so people could comfortably sit and enjoy their cocktail and food from The MBar.

El Nombre
Our subjects being important latina women from history led us to Mexico’s Adelitas, the female Mexican Revolutionary fighters. Fierce fighters who did not wait for a man’s approval to bear arms and join the war. At the time they were dubbed Las Palomitas de la Revolución.

Letras Cholas
Another fierce warrior in history were the cholas of the 1950’s. At a time where Mexicans in Los Angeles were being targeted by violence and systemic racism, they held their neighborhoods down. The blue-collar field worker uniform consisted of Dickies and plaid shirts. This would get adopted and stylized to create the classic cholo look.

Los Colores
El Rosa Mexicano was created by Ramón Valdiosera in the 1950’s. We juxtaposed it against black, which would inspire the black and pink papel picado and black piñatas designed by Jorge ‘Thriller’ Gómez.

The Count
Overall, we surpassed the 400 people capacity of the theater. The event was set from 5pm – 10pm. With so much excited around the event, the theater kept their doors and bar opened till midnight. The vendors successfully sold out of all their products. 

Uplift ING’s Latinx Community
We exhibited 5 Inglewood based Latine artists. Also presented two Latine owned small businesses. Community members and non-profits from all over LA came to witness the spectacle. More importantly we brought out Inglewood’s quiet Latine community, something that hadn’t been done at The Miracle Theater, since opening 8 years ago. Making up most of the Inglewood’s population by 49.3%, the community remains in the shadows. Our goal was to demonstrate to the community what is possible when you pull your resources together and support one another.

Collabs
Madre Mezcal became our alcohol sponsor, but also took it upon themselves to help with the activation of the M Bar. They also collaborated with Aguas Locas on creating a signature cocktail for the evening. Madre also collaborated with El Paraíso, to create a one of kind paleta containing their mezcal.

Sponsorship
We joined forces with KCRW to provide media sponsorship. Granting us with over $8k in advertising. The Miracle Theater Foundation offered us their expertise when it came to orchestrating large scale events and opened up their network