Visiones

Originally broadcast on PBS, this series--spanning six half-hour episodes on contemporary Latino art and culture--focuses on the performing, visual, and literary arts (primarily featuring local and regional artists, although there are a few segments on highly-regarded crossover success stories, including writer/director Luis Valdez and choreographer Rudy Perez). Each episode is handsomely produced and the individuals profiled are genuinely engaging, most notably the politically-inspired artist Carlos Cortez. But the series as a whole is a bit lopsided and evasive, with too much attention given to Mexican-American culture, and relatively limited time allotted to the Caribbean side of the Latin diaspora (and even less attention to those of Afro-Latino heritage). Sadly, much of the creative output produced by the artists here appears to be going unnoticed beyond the Latino communities, and even within these communities their fame often seems minuscule (most notably in the case of the Taco Shop Poets, a quartet of writers who recite their writing to the astonishment of the diners in a San Diego fast food joint). Oddly, the series never addresses how Latino arts fit into American culture as a whole, or how artists manage to fund their efforts in an environment where financial support is waning. Recommended for Southwest libraries, this is optional elsewhere. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)