Aviona Creatrix Rodriguez Brown instills inclusivity and accessibility, by creating multidisciplinary art to tell stories surrounding being multiracial, exploring queerness, working through mental illness, stress, navigating drug addiction, and homelessness. Using tools and resources from smART Grants, Artist Up Scholarship, and the Mentorly Scholarship The Creatrix has developed healing workshops, along with a 45-minute solo show derived from self-written poetry which has been translated into Spanish and toured to New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Washington. Through ongoing community-oriented youth projects, they aspire to educate the masses on self-awareness and the benefits of art alternatives when dealing with everyday stresses.
"Creatrix" encompasses the many art avenues to which they contribute:
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(Her/Their) Story
Aviona began as a child model for Bon Marche in the '90s and progressed to church choirs and singing Selena Quintanilla at talent shows, her love to sing and move a crowd grew. Throughout high school, she was introduced to the spectacle of larger-than-life theater at their alma mater, Bishop Blanchet High School. This program gave her the opportunity to work in some of the biggest houses in Seattle, the Historic Moore Theater, ACT Theater, and Benaroya Hall. Inducted into the National Thespian Society one year prior to graduation and flew off to NYC to attend American Musical Dramatic Academy to focus on musical theater. While in New York, Aviona birthed life into the roll of Pig-Foot Mary a staple to harlem and entrepreneurship as well as worked backstage for productions off-broadway. The illness of their mother called Aviona to return to Seattle in 2014 and since we have seen Aviona both on and off stage for major companies such as the 5th Avenue Theater, Book-it Repertory Theatre, Centerstage Theater Company and many many more.
As time went on Aviona noticed some consistencies:
As time went on Aviona noticed some consistencies:
- Children weren't being serviced when it came to art and expression
- Marginalized people of color (POCs) and disabilities were not being showcased appropriately or fairly
I would rather be the reason we hire workers of color to work on a show about us, by us, for us."
~ Aviona Rodriguez Brown, Z-Slides SCCTV 2019
When Aviona began to ask questions and set expectations for those who sought out their artistic services they were met with fight and strife. This has pushed Aviona to write, inquiring companies to hire her as a director or racial equity consultant. This resulted in REVEAL- a solo performance produced and performed on both east and west coast of the USA- focused on being mixed race and the acceptance of their queerness. In addition, 2019 marked a new beginning as Aviona became the Managing Director of Copious, a speakeasy cabaret space in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, which focuses on creating an equitable space for new producers to cultivate and perform new works. Unfortunately the pandemic shut down took its toll on Copious and it shut its doors in 2021.