Last May, during our Fellow-organized ‘Urbano Family Reunion,’ Ximena, our Education Programs Manager sat down with Lissette Velez-Cross, star Urbano alumni and actor currently at Emerson College. We talked about her experience at Urbano when she was in Highschool and her current endeavors as a young artist.
XI: When did you participate in Urbano?
LVC: 2010 was my first year as a student and I attended during my freshman and sophomore years of High School. Then I was a Fellow for junior and senior year.
XI: What are you currently doing artistically and professionally?
LVC: When I was in high school for my junior and senior year I was in a performance/vocalist group called Urban Dance Theater in Hyde Park. We explore every genre of music depending on where we get booked. We’re sort of entertainment for different events and when I went to college I continued that group and now I’m also the artistic production manager of that group, which is exciting because I’m performing but I’m also getting administrative experience that I really want to learn more about.
I’m currently at Emerson College for acting and I’m going to add a double-major that I haven’t decided yet. I know I don’t just want to act. I want to have that part but I also want another background and I want to know the management. So that’s what I’m doing now. I feel like it’s a good experience.
XI: Do you have any shows coming up?
LVC: Well, for the summer we are doing a lot of private events. We do some shows at retirement homes. We did a Christmas show there and a New Year’s show so they want us for a summer show as well. We actually got booked by the City of Boston to sing at Downtown Crossing every Saturday from June through August. So that’s really exciting, that’s our big project that we’re rehearsing for. It’s my group: Sweet Harmony, plus friends we are students of—past students who also know the music and who are coming to sing at Downtown Crossing.
XI: Where in Downtown Crossing can we find you?
LVC: It’s outside, so it should be right in front of the station. What we do every year is we do a Christmas set. Sweet Harmony usually performs with the younger performance troop as well, they’re called Mixed Emotions.
They’re really good, they’re really cute. And they are probably going to be doing a couple of songs at our summer performances at Downtown Crossing. But since we do that, we sort of have an idea of how they set up the microphones and they’re probably going to be similar to that, probably right in front of Macy’s.
XI: Oh that’s so great, I’d love to see you perform. Tell me a little bit about your experience at Urbano. What do you remember about that moment in your life?
LVC: I remember starting Urbano really scared. I did a lot of extracurricular activities throughout elementary school and middle school, all of that. But it was a lot activities that I’d find out from school.
Urbano was different, I would come see Urbano at JP Open Studios because I grew up in JP and then I moved to Roslindale in 2009. But it was sort of like Urbano was this thing I had meant to do and my mom said, “You should try it,” and I was like “Woah that’s big, like that’s a big organization.” So I remember coming really scared and worried, because I don’t really consider myself so much of a visual artist, more of a performing artist, that I wouldn’t be at the same level. But I came to find the way Urbano is, it’s just a family. Which is why we’re having a family reunion, y’know. It’s like, really good.
XI: How do you think Urbano impacted or shaped you, the person that you are now?
LVC: I think the most is being confident and being able to say “I am an artist and just because I’m a student doesn’t mean I’m not a real artist.” And being able to talk about it and learn about art in different ways and do my own research. Not just like taking an art history class, which I’d love – I took an art history class in high school and I loved it.
It’s like a whole other way of seeing because at Urbano, there are professional artists and you get to see the new voice and the up-and-coming voices but the people that are also making an impact now. I feel like Urbano really shaped me to open myself up to different kinds of art and not be so worried and just stick to acting which was my original plan, you know?
XI: Cool, so one last thing. How do you think your experience at Urbano has influenced your experience at Emerson?
LVC: I feel like it goes back to being more open and being more confident in what I’m doing. At Emerson right now, there’s an uprising about discrimination and racial issues. I know many people that are in a performance group called Flawless Brown [the first performance troupe for women of color at Emerson College, started by a student]. I feel like before Urbano I wouldn’t have been so open to that. I would’ve been a little bit nervous and been like, “Maybe I should [address these issues] just for main stage shows.” But, coming to Urbano Project and seeing so many different artists of different backgrounds, this is something I have to [get] behind, you know? Like I have to embrace this.
XI: Thank you so much Lissi. It was great to talk to you!
LVC: You too!
