HOLA FACT SHEET

HOLA’s Mission

HOLA expands job opportunities for Latinos in the arts and general market entertainment media. HOLA’s activities encourage and enable Hispanic performers to support one another, to expand our artistic presence, and to be portrayed in all of our diversity.

The HOLA Story

Thirty-five years ago, a core group of professional Latino actors working in New York, including some famous ones like José Ferrer and Raúl Juliá, decided to address the inequities created by the casting system that underemployed Hispanic actors and relegated Latino characters to negative stereotypes. Early encounters with the casting system showed how to gain fair access.

By building solid relationships with media producers and casting agents, HOLA bit by bit, friend by friend, and committee by committee helped reshape our future. One example of HOLA’s struggle, on behalf of Hispanic actors, was the well publicized collaboration with Actor’s Equity Association to ensure appropriate casting for Death and the Maiden on Broadway in the 1990’s. Since then there has been no major incidents of inappropriate casting on Broadway.

HOLA Numbers (per year)

Hispanic actors in NYC (est.)	1,800
HOLA actor members March 2010	458
Latino theaters in NYC involved in HOLA Awards	20
Latino theater professionals affected by HOLA Awards (est.)	3,000
Participants in HOLA’s professional development workshops	200
Recipients of HOLA’s career counseling	60
Audiences for HOLA’s special events	300
Facebook followers	1,600
Daily email blast (for auditions, jobs, etc.)	550
El Blog de HOLA used by	150
Visitors to HOLA’s website per year	96,000
Membership fees that provide all of these services ONLY	$99

FRIENDS OF HOLA Donation Levels

Audience Member	$0.01 to $99.99
Scenestealer	$100.00 to $149.99
Star	$150.00 to $249.99
Legend	$250.00 to $499.99
Icon	$500.00 and over

HOLA programs supported, in part, by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the City of New York, Department of Cultural Affairs.