Art as Politics

As a performer, director, and producer with over 20 years of experience in Austin theatre, Boyd Vance draws on his creativity with hopes of uniting this city's African-American community. "The real deal," Vance says, "is that theatre and art can function as a political thing, taking and mobilizing people to do something that's important." Vance landed his first theatrical role in 1978 but his biggest break came as Tony the hairdresser in the three-year run of Shear Madness from 1992-1994, which put Boyd's face on Capital Metro buses.

Fueled by that success, Vance helped form Progressive Arts Collective (ProArts) in 1993. "Few black people create, administer, produce their art, and benefit from it," he explained. Through ProArts,Vance tours the Austin Independent School District engaging children in African-American history through music, a project he started 15 years ago. Vance also worked in schools for CEACO, facilitating HIV education with his penchant for the dramatic. Boyd's eight years of work in HIV/AIDS, for CEACO and the nonprofit Informe-SIDA, is recognized throughout Austin. "I've just always thought of Boyd as a force around HIV and AIDS issues," says Lee Manford, executive director of AIDS Services of Austin. "Sometimes that can feel like a positive force and sometimes not. For many people, the response to HIV formed in a vacuum when the rest of society wasn't responding. At times we have to do things that seemed extreme. Boyd is not bashful about that at all, and frankly that's what it takes sometimes."

Vance strengthened his ties with East Austin through his work with CEACO and Informe-SIDA. "Boyd just knows people left and right," says Mateo Rodriguez, whose family utilized CEACO's services and who also worked with CEACO for his own small nonprofit for at-risk youths. "He'll stand out. To me, Boyd is CEACO." --Sam Baron