HSF Student Profile: Ana Guigui

2008-09 winner of the HSF/ McNamara Creative Arts Grant

AnaGuigui_profilepictureAs a single woman and the head of my household, my current financial hardship has been compounded by challenging personal and financial circumstances in 2007, including the passing of my father this past June and sudden unemployment.  I was unemployed for nine months, ultimately resulting in my having to short sell my home (also due to the housing crisis), among other financial challenges. I made a commitment to myself to overcome these emotional, spiritual and financial obstacles by consciously choosing to start a new life along with a new career path.

I have been working as a professional singer, pianist, songwriter, actress, and writer for the past twenty-two years.  In 2007, I began my Master's Degree in Opera/Voice Performance at Claremont Graduate University to create a more stable future for myself by securing a music/voice-teaching position at a university or private school.  (Please see: www.anaguigui.com for more background information).

I believe that music and the arts create a bond and sense of unity in the microcosm of a family and subsequently translates into the macrocosm of a community.  I was the first American born into an Argentinean Jewish artistic family and am a native bilingual in Spanish and English.  (Spanish was my first language). My father, Efrain Guigui, was a symphony orchestra conductor and music professor at Dartmouth College, my mother, Elena, a former operatic soprano and Spanish language educator for thirty years, and my brother, Martin, is currently a Hollywood screenwriter, and independent feature film director. I am the product of a professional artistic family and have been raised in a culturally rich environment where education, the arts, intellectual knowledge, and family values were prioritized above everything else.

The funds from HSF's McNamara Creative Arts Grant is allowing me to pass on my knowledge of music and the arts to future generations as I will be applying the grant to a six-week production of my original, one-woman show, God Box.

Upcoming God Box performances:

  1. 16th Annual Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival
    March 26 - 29, 2009.
    God Box will be presented on Sunday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m.
    Call LAWTF for reservations
    818-760-0408 Tel.
    818-760-0506 Fax
    or go to website:  www.lawtf.com
    or email: lawtfspotlight@yahoo.com

  2. Six-week production of God Box
    The Actors Forum Theatre
    10655 Magnolia Blvd.
    N. Hollywood, CA  91601
    July 10 - August 16, 2009
    Friday's and Saturday's at 8 p.m.
    Sunday's at 2:00 p.m.
    Reservations: 323-960-5770
    Website: www.anaguigui.com