Meliza Ruby, AKA By MelRub, a Dominican-American Multidisciplinary Artist curating live and moving art pieces, collaborated with 27 other female artists to celebrate Women’s History Month for the Spring 2022 Art Show, ”OUTLINES & Highlights,” launched in partnership with Art Gall Expo and Multitude Entertainment. Ranging from visuals, sculptors, digital creators, muralists, music, and crafters, these powerhouse females showcased their visual work and live interactive pieces in a large open space using booths. Supporting the arts, Meliza’s solo exhibit featured her latest collection “Nature Galls & Ruby’s Story,” nostalgically following her time in NYC in 2009 through walks along Central Park. Diversity was at the core, with artists being chosen by varying types of style, all from South Florida or Latin background.
The event blended pop, rock, NFTS, acrylic, oil-based arts, crafts as jewelry, and accessories as glasses and hats, live-streamed by “Toy Invades” Miami. Sponsors included Ciclon Energy Drink PR & DR and the judges panel consisted of Victoria Unikel (NFT Collection), Valeria Cid, Williams Tinoco, King Chris Fashion, with music by Valeria Cid, Steffy Boom, Danielle and DJ Tee.
Meliza Rub says, “We are feminists that breathe art on a daily basis and one of these forms is body art, including Moving Pieces by Mel Rub (exhibition). The Bodypainting Competition awarded first place to Stellar Body Paint, second place to Sabrina la Bruja and Third Place to Icy Dripz. We had Art on Canvas, Wood, Skin and small sculptures and accessories all in one space.”
The event was held at The Butcher Shop at 209 6th Street on March 19th 2022 from 7-10pm, an old fashioned butcher shop / beer garden in West Palm Beach, where all of the artists hail from. Celebrity attendees included Dominican-recognized * kilia llano.
More about Meliza Ruby Almonte
Meliza Rub, artistically known as By MelRub, is a mixed media & visual artist who uses acrylics and oils on different canvases, ranging from wood to skin. Meliza was influenced by Marlene Pratt and her interior design work, her mother’s portrait drawings, and artists such as Malika Favre, Jackson Pollock, Lynda Benglis, Ian Davenport, Robert Delaunay, and Gerhard Richter. Meliza was born in 1989 in Norwood, New Jersey; however, she lived the majority of her life surrounded by the Caribbean Sea in the colorful, picturesque city of Santiago, Dominican Republic. Her mother was a portrait artist who gave up drawing to raise a family, but from an early age encouraged Meliza to explore her creativity. Her study of Architecture & Design for two years at Pontificia Universidad Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) in Santiago and later Interior and Exterior Design at the Art Institute of Tampa cultivated her use of strong lines in her work. While working under architect and designer Marlene Pratt in New York City, she was inspired to host her first art expo, marking the beginning of Meliza’s dream to turn her passion into a career. Meliza is currently residing in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she launched her own business, Art Gall Expo. Her murals can be seen at Dr. Limon, Kanela Lounge, Smothie World, Melaos 360, Alicia’s Latin Cuisine and others in WPB. She has been commissioned to create pieces for local events and fundraisers.
Leading Multicultural Organizations also participating to create a cohesive program across underrepresented communities
PARK CITY, Utah, January 4, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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The Sundance Institute | One House Filmmakers Fund launches to provide unrestricted financing, educational support, and amplification for filmmakers from historically underrepresented communities and announces the ten filmmakers in the Fund’s inaugural cohort. The Fund is led by Gold House, the leading cultural ecosystem that unites, invests in, and champions Asian Pacific creators and companies to power tomorrow for all, and is made possible by the generous support of the East West Bank Foundation, the charitable arm of East West Bank, furthering their dynamic work within the entertainment industry, supporting storytellers of all backgrounds to create impactful cultural dialogues.
Historically underrepresented in the entertainment industry, multicultural filmmakers continue to face barriers to raising financing for projects. According to UCLA’s 2022 Hollywood Diversity Report, only 1 in 3 directors identifies as BIPOC (despite representing over 42% of the population), and a significantly higher percentage of films directed by those BIPOC directors are likely to have a budget of less than $20 million. However, these reports also consistently show that diversity behind the camera increases the likelihood of diversity in front of the camera, and those films with majority-minority casts majorly outperform counterparts with minimally diverse casts at the box office—clearly demonstrating the demand for more diverse storytelling.
In addition to Gold House, Sundance Institute, and East West Bank Foundation, the One House Filmmakers Fund’s selections were made in collaboration with Latinx House, GLAAD, the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, and RespectAbility, whose executives served on the selection committee. The inaugural cohort of ten filmmakers will receive unrestricted funding, collaborative mentorship with established filmmakers and industry executives; skills training; comprehensive business-building support; and amplification through interactive programming hosted by Gold House and partners throughout the year. The filmmakers and respective projects in development in the 2024 cohort are:
Arun Bhattarai for Agent of Happiness
Naveen Chaubal for Pinball
Marissa Chibás for 1972
StormMiguel Florez for Welcome To Roswell
Jalena Keane-Lee for Standing Above the Clouds
Sura Mallouh for Untitled Sura Mallouh Project
Walé Oyéjidé for Chiaroscuro
Otilia Portillo Padua for The Queendom
Shrihari Sathe for Doha - The Rising Sun
Julie Forrest Wyman for Untitled Dwarfism Project
“The East West Bank Foundation is proud to be a founding partner of the One House Filmmakers Fund,” said Dominic Ng, Chairman and CEO, East West Bank. “One of our main goals is to support diversity and inclusion in all industries, including entertainment and the arts. Strengthening storytelling by diverse filmmakers is a powerful way to build bridges between communities.” Asone of the top-performing banks in the country, East West Bank has been a powerhouse in the entertainment industry, supporting numerous Hollywood ventures, filmmakers, and storytellers of all backgrounds to create impactful cultural dialogues.
“Sundance Institute has been championing artists to tell stories that reflect their lived realities for over 40 years. We are excited for the opportunity to partner with Gold House to provide vital funding to multicultural artists working in fiction and non-fiction to advance their projects and increase representation on and off screen. The ten filmmakers selected for the inaugural year of the One House Filmmaker Fund are important voices working in independent film today, and we are thrilled to be able to continue elevating these voices,” said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Director, Sundance Institute Artist Accelerator Program.
“Communities demand that the world we watch reflect the world we live in–on both sides of the camera. We’re thankful for the financial support of East West Bank Foundation and the partnership of our peer-leading multicultural organizations as we invest formidable capital, resources, and platforms to create a first-of-its-kind investment and convening vehicle for the next generation of pioneering multicultural filmmakers. If we’re stronger together, then we’d better start now,” said Christine Yi, General Manager of the Gold House Creative Equity Fund.
The One House Filmmakers Fund is a continuation of Gold House’s mission to empower the Asian Pacific diaspora and multicultural partners to power tomorrow for all. At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Gold House co-hosted the inaugural pan-AAPI “Sunrise House” with Daniel Dae Kim’s 3AD and TAAF, which included a special Multicultural Evening to celebrate the creativity and solidarity of multicultural communities through a multicultural filmmakers panel, an intimate dinner featuring the first-ever “Multicultural House Toast”, and ending with a spirited multicultural “house party” co-hosted by several organizations including Blackhouse, Illuminative, Latinx House, Macro, and RespectAbility. Other multicultural creative unity, investment, and promotional efforts include the Reimagine Coalition announced at last year’s Golden Globes with the NAACP, IllumiNative, RespectAbility, and more; One House Open that supports the opening successes of multicultural films for further greenlighting and cross-community education such as Just Mercy, In the Heights, Queen and Slim, and Marvel Studios’ Eternals; the One House Leadership Coalition that diversifies corporate Boards and Advisories in partnership with top multicultural funds; and discussive Meta Gold Talks that explore the intricacies of cross-cultural solidarity with experts like Pulitzer Prize Winner Nikole Hannah-Jones and cross-cultural creative leaders like director Jon M. Chu.
Gold House is the leading cultural ecosystem that unites, invests in, and champions Asian Pacific creators and companies to power tomorrow for all. Under a nonprofit umbrella, our innovative family of companies, programs, and platforms include membership systems and events to fortify relationships among the Asian Pacific community and with other marginalized communities (#StopAsianHate); first-of-its kind investment vehicles and accelerators to propel the next generation of top Asian Pacific founders, creatives, and leaders (Gold House Ventures, Creative Equity Fund); and industry-leading research, consulting, and marketing to promote authentic and affirming portrayals (Gold Story Consultation, Gold Open, Gold List, A100 List). To learn more, visit www.goldhouse.org or follow @GoldHouseCo on Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, Threads, and LinkedIn.
ABOUT EAST WEST BANK FOUNDATION
The East West Bank Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, and the philanthropic arm of East West Bank. Through collaborative partnerships, the Foundation’s grants strengthen the community by supporting initiatives in affordable housing, small business technical assistance, diversity and anti-discrimination, advocacy, cultural & arts, economic development, and other broad-based causes. In working alongside non-profit partners, the East West Bank Foundation strives to build bridges of opportunity for everyone to reach further.
ABOUT SUNDANCE INSTITUTE
As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance Advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Through the Sundance Institute artist programs, we have supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don’t Cry, Boys State, Call Me By Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Drunktown’s Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Fruitvale Station, Get Out, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, Honeyland, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, Navalny, O.J.: Made in America, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, RBG, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, The Souvenir, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, Sydney, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Walking and Talking, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola. Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of artists such Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta, The Daniels, David Gordon Green, Miranda July, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Boots Riley, Ira Sachs, Quentin Tarantino, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram,TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.
