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Ernesto Javier Martínez is one of four artists to receive the two-year Fields Artist Fellowship, supporting artists addressing issues in their communities. Martínez’s work focuses on stories of queer Latinx youth.
Ernesto Javier Martínez, a Eugene writer and filmmaker whose work is focused on stories about queer Latinx youth, is a recipient of a two-year $150,000 fellowship for artists.
Martínez was one of four artists in the state selected for the Fields Artist Fellowship by Oregon Community Foundation, in partnership with Oregon Humanities. The fellowship is geared toward Oregon artists addressing issues in their communities; much of Martínez’s artistic work has specifically focused on queer Latinx youth.
Born in Oakland, California, and raised between Mexico and the United States, Martínez is a Chicano and Puerto Rican writer who studied literature at Stanford and Cornell before becoming a professor at 28 years old.
He is currently an associate professor at the University of Oregon, and the department head of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at UO.
“Receiving the Fields Artist Fellowship is an incredible honor because it affirms the importance of telling stories that center queer Latinx youth,” Martinez said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
“Too often, these voices are marginalized or erased, and this fellowship gives me the resources and time to create work that celebrates their resilience, complexity, and beauty,” he continued. “I’m excited to use this support to build imaginative worlds that inspire hope and belonging for the next generation.”
Martínez’s artistic work started with “When We Love Someone, We Sing to Them,” a 2018 bilingual children’s book with illustrator Maya Gonzalez about a boy who loves another boy.
Then, he started working as a screenwriter and filmmaker in collaboration with the director Adelina Anthony. They are now turning their award-winning 2019 short film “La Serenata,” about a Mexican family responding when their son wants to sing a love song to another boy, distributed by HBO Max, into a feature-length film.
Children’s media is a large part of Martínez’s work, with contributions to shows like Mister Rogers’ successor “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Sesame Street” and “Lyla in the Loop.” He co-wrote “Daniel Visits a New Neighborhood: The Movie,” a special where the animated tiger takes a train to visit his friend Juan Carlos and his family.
With the $150,000 from the Fields Artist Fellowship, Martínez plans to produce a pilot for a new animated fantasy adventure television show, “The Boy Who Became a River.” The statement announcing his selection also says he plans to “create sustainable ways to develop content in Oregon, while building a local creative community.”
The fellowship cohort includes theater and visual artist Amber Kay Ball and hip-hop musician Talilo Marfil of Portland, as well as Yanely Rivas Maldonado, a printmaker and educator from Salem.
Jerry Tischleder, senior program officer for arts and culture at Oregon Community Foundation, said in a statement that the four artists are change-makers.
“They have deep connections in their communities and are using creativity in vastly different and incredible ways to spark hope, inspiration and connection, and to raise voices that aren’t always heard,” he said. “These investments come at times that will open doors for them in ways that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. It’s going to be amazing to see what they do.”
Seven finalists for the fellowship received a one-time award of $10,000; those recipients include another Lane County artist, Jose Antonio Huerta of Springfield, who is a master of charrería (Mexican horsemanship) and the organizer of his city’s annual Mexican cultural festival, Noche Cultural.
