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When Jose Solís decided to build his own program for future BIPOC critics, he called on his mother, a pedagogist, for guidance. According to Solís’s interview with Rob Weinert-Kendt for American Theatre, his mother’s response to his ideas was, “What you want to do is called disruptive education. You’re trying to break the system that’s already there. That’s going to be complicated, but it’s going to be fun.”

In 2020, Solís developed a 10-week program called the BIPOC Critics Lab that provides industry insights and training that the participants otherwise would not have access to. Essential to the program is that it is open to critics who want to go beyond the page.

“I love writing and I know you love writing and we love words. But I think that written criticism is a form of gatekeeping. English is not my first language, for instance, and I know colleagues for whom English isn’t necessarily their first language and are very self-conscious about their grammar and about their spelling, and that keeps them from even trying.…So I also want people who feel more comfortable with podcasting, or feel most comfortable making videos, to be able to make space for themselves. That is also a very cutting-edge form of criticism.”

According to the interview with American Theatre, Solís had first conceived of the project years ago, but it wasn’t until his return from the National Critics Institute at the O’Neill—after seeing that of the 14 in his cohort, only two were BIPOC—that the ball got rolling. Beginning with the participants’ defining for themselves what criticism is and what their respective projects will be, and ending in “having their first paid piece published in a journalistic outlet or the materials of a partner theatre company,” Solís wants for the participants in his program to learn that “a published piece of criticism is far from being the last step in the process; that’s when the conversation should open. So, if there’s something that I really want the future critics to learn it is that your voice is not some holy mandate.” The second installment of the program was hosted here at The Kennedy Center.

The scope of Solís’s work includes a myriad of publications and honors. His work has appeared in places such as The New York Times, The Toronto Star, The Washington Post, American Theatre, TDF Stages, Rotten Tomatoes, 3Views, and America Magazine. The 2020 Floria Lasky Visiting Artist at Hunter College, he is currently one of three co-editors at 3Views and is the Critics Cohort Director at Did They Like It.