Photo by Lia Chang
SAKACHEZ® Mission Statement
Empowering the next generation of BIPOC musical theater artists with transformative training and mentorship. Lifting theater artists of color, highlighting AAPI and Latine stories.
Sakachez® is a fiscally sponsored member of New York Live Arts, Inc., a non-profit tax-exempt organization.
Contributions are greatly appreciated and may be made payable to "New York Live Arts, Inc" earmarked for “Sakachez®.”
All contributions are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution today.
Sakachez® is the brainchild of Japanese American Co-Founder, Lainie Sakakura and Puerto Rican Co-Founder, Alex Sanchez. Broadway as performers, creatives, and award winning choreographers (both recipients of the Joe A. Callaway Award and Joseph Jefferson Award).
Sakakura and Sanchez come from complex cultural-social economic backgrounds. Longtime advocates for diversity and inclusion in the performing arts, passionate and active volunteers in their community. As parents and educators, they mentor young up and coming performers. As freelance theater professionals, they create new work, push boundaries, and build bridges for better communication and more equitable hiring practices.
Looking at the faces of their own children and all the generations repeating the same struggle over and over, the same questions kept coming up. What would have helped us the last 3 decades of our careers? What is the theater we want to see and participate in? Where do we start?
Sakachez® has two main initiatives
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Education – Dance, vocal, acting, audition training with community building and mentorship for the specific needs of our emerging BIPOC theater artists.
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New Work Development – Creating and producing new work highlighting AAPI and Latine voices led by creatives and producers of color.
The name "Saka-chez" has been the nickname of Lainie, Alex and their two children for many years and perfectly describe their mixed-race, Japarican family.
Donate today to SAKACHEZ® and support their education outreach and new works development.
Sakachez® officially published in TMOG and signed by the US Patent & Trademark Office Mar 1, 2022