Enrique Chi
Q: What do you do in the community?
I am an artist, singer-songwriter and the leader of the band Making Movies which was founded in Kansas City. Over the years, the community music camp the band founded grew from that seed into a beautiful arts organization serving our community through free arts programming. That has become an equally important part of my life and its own work of art.
Q: Tell us more about your background.
I was born in Santiago, Panamá and my family moved to Kansas City when I was a child. We were supposed to move back in four years but we ended up staying in the city. It's a small community and the music scene was very small as I was growing up. My dreams were simple: being able to play shows in real venues and tour in any capacity seemed like a giant goal, I didn't see any peers really pulling that off. There was a beauty to that, basement shows and DIY venues grounded me in creating music for the love of it and with no expectations. We also had a gap spaces that represented the immigrant community in Kansas City, that need inspired the music camp and festival which grew into Art as Mentorship.
Q: Why does representation matter in your community work?
I first think about this through the lens of youth and my experience building these music programs. It's clear and studied, that young folks excel when they see themselves represented in their teachers and mentors.
What’s one way the community can uplift voices like yours?
In many ways, it's never been easier to passively support artists, sharing their stuff on social media, listening on platforms etc. Though incredibly valuable, because of how those platforms are structured, this does not adequately replace real investment in the artists. In this economy purchasing a concert ticket, a merch item, or supporting fundraisers is essential not only for community projects but also for the creation of art and having the resources to tour and promote these works. Opportunities to share our stories (like this project) are incredible because they can lead us to more people who can invest in furthering the work.
On his 10 Favorite Songs:
Music always creates a movie in my head but these songs trigger like Academy Award-winning films in my mind. That is one of the qualities of music that I find most mysterious and exciting, regardless of genre or recording technolgy––modern songs don't inherantly do it more than older music. Much of this selection comes from from my youth and there are a few more recent recordings or discoveries that really blow my mind.
