Anna Montano
Studio Fellow and Media Arts Apprentice from Cohort 6
In January, The Loop Lab Studio hired two fellows from our Academy, Anna Montano and Kuran Freeman. Anna was born in New York and raised in Massachusetts. Growing up in Somerville, she was surrounded by art of all forms in her diverse community. Being around groups of minorities that hustled to display their arts and personalities to the local and surrounding communities over the years pushed her to strive for dreams of being in the media arts and live music entertainment industry. She is an avid concert goer and throughout the years gained inspiration from her peers, community, and the immersive environments she has been in to start diving into the world of media arts. She has a media page on instagram under the handle @signsofsonder; that’s where she displays her admiration for live music, life, humans and art in all different forms.
Kuran Freeman
Studio Fellow and Media Arts Apprentice from Cohort 6
Kuran is a Roxbury/Dorchester native who's a self-taught artist pushing his creative mind through various abstract medium's. Coming from a West-Indian household, Kuran's family were alway hustling to beat the clock. Kuran picked up on dedication, entrepreneurship, as well as creating a way out by any means necessary. The struggles of poverty allowed his mind to turn to mediums such as sketching, painting, poetry, music, photography, and now media arts thanks to The Loop Lab! Kuran looks forward to inspire and employ those in similar spaces globally on a higher scale in the near future as a business owner and narrative pusher in the culture.
The Studio crew kicked off 2024 with event photography and videography for UK-based company TransCap Initiative, who hosted an inaugural global systemic investing summit at Artists for Humanity and MIT this past January. It was the first production of the year for the Studio Fellows, and we were also thrilled to contract with Castillo Holliday films duo Javier and Dominique to assist with coverage of the event. The Loop Lab is currently editing the footage from the summit into a short documentary.
Chris Acevedo on set at Arlington EATS
In February, we created an impact video for Arlington EATS, a food pantry based in Arlington, MA, for their annual fundraiser event. Before joining our staff, Chris Acevedo was a frequent freelancer on our productions. This was his final Loop Lab production before officially joining the full-time crew, and his talent shown through. The final video included documentation and interviews from the Arlington EATS community along with their partner organizations, Lamplight Literacy and Cradles to Crayons.
Kuran Freeman (L) and Supervising Producer, Deirdre (R) conduct an interview with Arlington EATS
Abraham Lopez is camera op for Jackson 2bears
Arts at MIT contracted The Loop Lab Studio to capture their Artist in Residence Jackson 2bears, a multimedia installation/performance artist whose work focuses on Indigenous land-based histories and embodied cultural knowledge. With the creative direction of Loop Lab alum, Abraham Lopez, the studio recorded a lecture and interviews that are being adapted into a documentary.
More recently, The Loop Lab Studio was hired by the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College (MA4EC) to film and photograph moments from Early College Day at the Massachusetts State House. The energy of the crew and attendees was palpable; we even got to snap a selfie with Senator Payano!
(L to R) Evyn Gregario, Briana Maltez, Abraham Lopez, Dominique Holliday at the MA4EC shoot with Senator Payano
Kuran tests out a camera rig at Talamas
Studio fellow Kuran had the opportunity to exclusively tour Talamas in Waltham and test out the Alexa 35 and Sony Venice alongside Javier Castillo. We’re appreciative of our subcontractors for not only providing guidance on set but also taking the initiative to teach and expose our apprentices to more areas of the industry outside of the Studio!
Throughout all of this, The Loop Lab has been proud to partner with and assist NAACBoston, the Network for Arts Administrators of Color as they conduct their MSP4.0 Cohort, a six-month long mentorship/sponsorship program for local artists of color in the Greater Boston area. Over this time, the pairings meet 1:1 regularly and have a chance to attend a panel/workshop each month covering topics like Creating Your Social Impact Story (led by our own Christopher Hope) and Equitable Budgeting. We are not only hosting the cohort in our Downtown Crossing space for three of the panels, but also recording each with the fantastic help of Loop Lab alum, Briana Maltez.
This has been a wonderful opportunity to employ and support past apprentices, giving them further professional experience and room to advance in their fields. Thank you to NAACBoston and all of our community partners for assisting us in our mission to continue supporting Loop Lab alums by hiring the Studio!