Gina Mariela RodríGuez- Drix

About

Gina Mariela Rodríguez-Drix (she/hers) is a multigenre writer, performer, arts administrator and birth doula.

Gina currently serves as the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Providence Department of Art, Culture + Tourism where she manages ACT Public Art program, develops cultural policy, and facilitates creative placemaking projects.  Most recently Gina facilitated planning for Art in City Life Plan, the City’s first master plan for public art, and currently directs the planning process for Creative Providence 2021, the City’s second cultural plan for the creative sector. 

Gina’s professional and creative practices are rooted in her fervent passion for social, environmental and reproductive justice and a commitment to her hometown. Her work in creative placemaking has centered artists in conversations around community safety (Illuminated Trinity, funded by Artplace America)  and has integrated artists with gardeners and food-based organizations to support a strong, vibrant, inclusive and diverse local cultural economy and a more resilient local food system (Sowing Place, funded by Kresge FreshLo). In 2020 Gina was awarded the American Express Emerging Leaders award from Americans for the Arts.

A multi-genre writer, Gina has had works for the stage produced in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York and has been published in creative non-fiction, fiction and poetry.

A practicing birth doula, Gina has worked with expectant parents in both home and hospital settings since 2010. In 2014 she co-founded The Doula Collective, RI's first no-fee bilingual doula service which operated until 2016. Most recently Gina served as a doula with Open Circe RI.

Gina serves on the board of the International Charter School in Pawtucket, RI and holds a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies and Modern Culture and Media from Brown University. She raises her young family in Providence.

contact: gina.mariela.rodriguez@gmail.com

Publication and Performance

Dreamscape Archives, 2020

A mixed-media virtual ritual examining the living legacy of Citrine Freedmen as understood by her collaborators and descendents from 2017-2157. Co-curated with Dara Bayer and produced during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. www.dreamscapearchives.com

Llévatelo, 2020

A bilingual solo performance ritual in celebration of three ancestors. Directed by Marcel Mascaro for the Fire Flowers and a Time Machine festival, Directed by Shey Rivera Rios, produced by Wilbury Theatre and the Waterfire Arts Center.

A Cardenas, 2020

Video poem for Luna Loba March 2020, produced by Shey Rivera Rios.

there are secrets shared, 2019

Poem published in Ruffles, Repair and Ritual: An Anthology of Writing In Regards to the Renovation of the Wedding Cake House. Edited by Mary-Kim Arnold and Taylor Polites, 2019.

America Too, 2018

An original series of four five-minute plays written in collaboration with local housing organizers. Produced by the Trinity Repertory Theatre's Center for Activism and Performance.

Prayer for the Port of Providence, 2017

Performance ritual highlighting Providence NO LNG in PVD campaign. Luna Loba November 2017, produced by Shey Rivera Rios.

Birthing Justice, 2015

Essay titled "Birth as Battle Cry: A Doula's Journey from Home to Hospital" published in Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy and Childbirth. Edited by Julia Chinyere Oparah and Alicia D Bonaparte. Paradigm Publishers, 2015.

Free at Last (?), 2013

Writer and Director for performed staged-reading at the opening event for the inaugural Black History Month Celebration. Commissioned by the University of Massachusettes, Dartmouth, 2013.

Ariel, 2008

Original one act play about a child soldier turned refugee of the Cuban Revolution. Directed by Liz Morgan. Produced by Rites and Reason Theatre, Brown University, 2008.

DOULA

Gina is dedicated to cultivating community through supporting families throughout their birth journeys, and roots this work in values of love, solidarity, and reproductive justice. Doula work is a practice in building sisterhood and by extension, a healthy resilient community. Gina supports families to make empowered and informed decisions during their pregnancies and birth through a practice of deep listening, respect, and intention. Trained by both ToLabor (2010)and the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (2014), Gina offers doula support to families throughout pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period.


Gina Mariela 2020~ www.ginamariela.com