Filmmaker Update: Althea Balmes

Congratulations to Althea! 

The Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts has selected Kwentong Bayan: Labour of Love to receive the 2014 Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Award for Artists who have captured the values of labour and social justice in their work. They will be will be accepting the award on Saturday November 29th at Maywork’s Annual Fundraising Gala Dinner and everyone is welcomed to join!

Named after Min Sook Lee, an activist-artist whose own contributions moved Mayworks Festival toward its current artistic vision: to actively seek representation of equity groups as audiences and artists. Lee also helped Mayworks focus on programming that engages new, non-arts audiences, and that challenges Euro-centric notions of art.

In addition to the awards ceremony, the gala will include a four course dinner by the East African Community Association, an exciting Silent Auction, and music by The Special Interest Group.

Althea Balmes was part of Reel Asian’s first Unsung Voices program in 2012. Her short film Suman Ladies went on to win Reel Asian’s WIFT-T Award that year. Althea has also served on Reel Asian’s Programming and Marketing Committee.