Draft:Paul S. Flores

Paul S. Flores (born in 1972) is a Mexican and Cuban American artist and youth arts educator recognized for his performance arts focused on transnationalism and citizenship. His work illuminates social inequities and he is well known for integrating collaborative interviews and indigenous healing practices into his creation process. For Flores, art is a conduit for connection, imagination, and social change.

Background
Raised beside the Mexican border, Flores is a Mexican and Cuban American artist whose art draws from his childhood in Chula Vista, California and delves into the intricacies of the immigrant experience. In childhood, his single mom worked diligently to provide for his family and he looked up to his grandmother as a key figure foundational to his becoming— her example taught him unconditional love and she was the first to throw a baseball back and forth with him.

Before beginning his art career, Flores played professional baseball for the Chicago Cubs in 1992. Three years later, Flores completed his bachelor’s degree in Literature and Writing at the University of California San Diego and later moved to San Francisco, California to pursue his MFA in creative writing at San Francisco State University.

While in his MFA program, Flores started the Los Delicados poetry collective alongside Darren J. de Leon. and Norman Zelaya. Together, the group traveled across the nation to perform poetry and found success because of their distinct Word Descarga style— their journey took them to the doorsteps of many talents like New Orleans/New York City legend Steven Cannon, and US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, amongst others. In 2001, the group released “Word Descarga” and their other works have been taught in classrooms across the nation. Also in 1996, Flores confounded Youth Speaks Inc. with writer James Kass who was also his colleague in the MFA program at SFSU. Youth Speaks became the largest youth poetry presenting program in the United States and showcases teen poets from around the world at the annual Brave New Voices: (Inter) National Teen Poetry Slam, also seen on HBO.

In 1995 Flores’ grandmother passed away and he returned to her hometown in Havana, Cuba. There, he connected with family members as well as other artists and his travels became a catalyst for many later works like the celebrated docu-theater piece We Have Iré.

To date, Flores’ works have been performed across the nation and abroad in Cuba, El Salvador, and Mexico. Flores has received many awards–inclusive to the PEN award-winning novelist and HBO Def Poetry Slam poet–including the prestigious Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in 2015, as well as commissions from various orgs like La Peña Cultural Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Miami Light Project, Creative Capital and the MAP Fund. Today, Flores lives in San Francisco with his children and continues his work as an artist and educator.

Notable Works
We Have Iré

We Have Iré debuted in 2019 and came together from the collaboration of many talents: the play written by Flores, directed by Rosalba Rolón and with original musical compositions by Yosvany Terry, amongst others. The docu-theater piece spotlights four experiences of migration from Cuba to the United States and follows the protagonists’ journeys as they make their way and find their voices. The bilingual play is woven together by dance sequences, original video footage, spoken word, and the thematic element of Iré—a Yoruban concept that can be understood as the good brought upon oneself when their actions and self are aligned with goodness. At its curtain call, We Have Iré transmits a powerful story of triumph and has won multiple awards since its debut.

PLACAS: The Most Dangerous Tattoo

Written by Flores and directed by Michael John Garcés, PLACAS details one man’s journey to reunite with his family after surviving civil war in El Salvador and navigating a host of other hardships. In response to an anti-immigrant political environment, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-SF) commissioned PLACAS to help dispel negative stereotypes surrounding Central American men—propelling forward instead an honest telling of life despite the trials that come with immigration, street violence, and incarceration. To bring the play to fruition, Flores interviewed 100 gang members from the Bay Area, LA, and abroad in El Salvador and also worked in close collaboration with Alex Sanchez, the founder of LA non-profit Homies Unidos and an ex-gang member. PLACAS has since toured nationally and held performances in Central America.

On The Hill: I am Alex Nieto

In March of 2014, four San Francisco police officers opened fire and killed Alex Nieto in the Mission District’s Bernal Heights. As the shockwaves from Nieto’s death reverberated across the city, Nieto’s family and community members came together in mourning and once more, grappled with the reality of police violence—set amidst the landscape of a rapidly changing city due to gentrification. On The Hill holds this collective grief in one hand and brings forth a retelling with the other—utilizing elements of magical realism to challenge Nieto’s death as finite. Through community collaboration and interview-based workshops for audience feedback, On the Hill came to life with sequences of drumming, dance, spoken word, as well as the energy of Loco Bloco’s youth who took on the play’s roles.

Projects
We Have Iré

You’re Gonna Cry

On The Hill: I am Alex Nieto

Along the Border Lies

PLACAS: The Most Dangerous Tattoo

REPRESENTA!

The Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word

Los Delicados Word with Jimmy Biala

Awards and Grants
Kenneth Rainin Foundation Arts New Program Grant “Somos Esenciales / We Are Essential” (2022)

Walter & Elise Haas Creative Work Fund “Somos Esenciales / We Are Essential” (2021)

National Association of Latino Arts & Culture (NALAC) Catalyst for Change Award (2020)

Kenneth Rainin Foundation New Program Grant “History Matters in The Mission” (2020)

San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant “History Matters in The Mission”  (2020)

Creative Capital Award "We Have Iré” (2019)

SFFILM-Westridge Grant Screenwriting “Placas” (2018)

The California Endowment Healing Through The Arts (FFSJ) “Pilgrim Street" (2018)

National Performance Network Creation Fund "We Have Iré”  (2018)

San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant “Pilgrim Street" (2018)

California Arts Council/Artist in Community (Fathers & Families—FFSJ) "Pilgrim Street” (2018)

Headlands Center for the Arts Artist in Residence (2018)

CCI Investing in Artists Award “We Have Iré” (2017)

Walter and Elise Haas Creative Work Fund “We Have Iré” (2017)

MAP Fund “We Have Iré" (2017)

Kenneth Ranin Foundation Theater Arts Grant "On The Hill: I Am Alex Nieto” (2016)

Gerbode Hewlett Theater Commissioning Award “Pilgrim Street” (2015)

NALAC Fund for the Arts Individual Arts Grant “Pilgrim Street” (2015)

Doris Duke Performing Artist Award: Theater (2015)

California Shakespeare Theater/Triangle Lab Artist investigator (2015)

KQED Latino Heritage Local Hero Award, KQED and Union Bank (2014)

The California Endowment Advancing Health Equity Through Arts & Culture "Placas”  (2014)

The California Arts Council Creating Places of Vitality Program “Placas” (2013)

Zellerbach Family Foundation “Placas" (2013)

Walter and Elise Haas Creative Work Fund “Placas” (2012)

National Performance Network Creation Fund “Placas" (2012)

Phyllis C Wattis Foundation “Placas” (2011)

SF Weekly 2011 Best Politically Active Hip-Hop Performance Artist, "You're Gonna Cry”

National Endowment for the Arts Theater Grant “Placas” (2011)

San Francisco Arts Commission Arts and Communities Grant “Placas” (2011)

Center for Cultural Innovation Investing in Artists Round VI “You’re Gonna Cry” (2010)

Theater Bay Area CA$H Grant “You’re Gonna Cry” (2010)

NALAC Fund for the Arts Individual Artist Grant “You’re Gonna Cry” (2010)

Zellerbach Family Foundation/W A Gerbode Foundation Grant “You’re Gonna Cry” (2009)

San Francisco Arts Commission Arts and Communities Grant “Placas”  (2008)

San Francisco Foundation Technology and Changing Demographics Commission, Center for Cultural Innovation (California) Investing in Artists Grant Round III "Representa!” (2008)

Network of Cultural Centers of Color (NCCC) & NPN Artist of Color Residency (2008)