Ricardo Gamboa, 2010 (and Invited Alumni Faculty, 2011)
Ricardo Gamboa (They/ Them/ Theirs) is an artist, activist and academic. Ricardo is currently staffed on THE CHI for showtime, and is writing the pilot for YOSHUA at HBOMax with Issa Rae & Scott Free producing; they are also developing a feature project with Macro. Before becoming a screenwriter, Gamboa created radically politicized arts interventions, theater and performance, and media with, by and for communities of color in their native Chicago for over a decade. This work includes endeavors like Gamboa’s critically acclaimed webseries BRUJOS about gay Latino doctoral students that are also witches fighting white supremacy or their radical underground traveling news show The Hoodoisie, which reaches hundreds of Chicagoans monthly. Gamboa is currently completing their doctorate degree at New York University’s American Studies program, where they earned their M.A in Arts and Politics. Ricardo has won several awards including a Joyce Award and an International Connections Award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. They are passionate about creating media that is not satisfied with just “diverse representation” but offers radical insights, politics and visions to the audience and that is reflected in the production processes.