20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Lin-Manuel Miranda
While Latinos make up 19% of the U.S. population and 24% of movie ticket buyers, they comprise less than 5% of film industry roles. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and his family are out to change that imbalance, with Colectivo, the latest initiative from their nonprofit, the Miranda Family Fund.
In partnership with Tribeca Studios and the Hispanic Federation, the new program will support three emerging Latino filmmakers with funding, mentorship, and an opportunity to premiere an original short film at the 2025 Tribeca Festival in June. Each film team will also include participants from the Miranda Family Fellows program, now in its sixth year, which offers scholarships, training, and mentoring to emerging artists and arts administrators from underrepresented communities working in theater, television, and film.
'The only way you get better at making art is by making art,' says Miranda. 'It's not until you're there on the day, solving the challenges of that day, that creativity really kicks into that next gear.'
The Mirandas also co-founded RISE—a directory of backstage theater workers from underrepresented groups that employers can tap for projects—and provide ongoing support for the arts in Puerto Rico through the Flamboyan Arts Fund, often in partnership with the Hispanic Federation, which Miranda's father,community activist Luis A. Miranda, Jr., founded in 1990. 'At the end of the day,' Miranda says, 'all of our philanthropy is rooted in giving underrepresented groups a chance to make art and get in the door without the barriers that so often leave us out.'
Philanthropy is a family affair for the Mirandas, with his dad and mom, psychologist Luz Towns-Miranda involved, as well as their children and the siblings' spouses. 'This is my parents' lifeblood,' Miranda says.
The biggest challenge to their family-first approach? 'The only hard part is turning it off when it's, say, Easter, and we're like, 'can we just play with the kids? Maybe we don't have to talk about how fundraising is going this quarter.'' Miranda says.
