Photos & Video: Chita Rivera Receives HOLA Lifetime Achievement Award

The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) recognized the extraordinary talents of the award-winning dancer, singer, actress Chita Rivera, the Latina and American Broadway icon, whose illustrious career paved the way for Hispanic artists in the United States. On November 14th at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City, HOLA presented Rivera with their Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her exceptional career at their 21st Annual Award Ceremony. Pablo Andrade, Executive Director of HOLA also announced that the award will now be renamed The Chita Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award for future recipients. Other honorees were Emilio Sosa, Award-winning costume designer and Chair of the American Theatre Wing, Actors Caesar Samayoa and Hemky Madera, Composer Jaime Lozano, Casting Director Wendy Curial, LABrynth Theatre Company, The Latinx Playwrights Circle and ¡Americano! The Musical. Lynda Baquero from NBC4 News emceed the evening.

See photos and videos below!

Chita Rivera has created such iconic roles as Anita in West Side Story, Velma in Chicago and Rose in Bye, Bye Birdie. She is one of the most nominated performers in Tony® Award history, having earned 10 nominations, received 2 as well as the 2018 Special Tony© Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. Chita was the first Hispanic woman to receive the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002 and was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009.

The HOLA Awards are presented by the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors which was founded in 1975 by a core group of Latino actors working in New York to address the inequities created by the casting system that underemployed Hispanic actors and relegated Latino characters to negative stereotypes. HOLA strives for accurate, informed, and non-stereotyped representation of the full spectrum of Latino culture and heritage across the entertainment and entertainment industries media. HOLA is an arts service organization dedicated to expanding the presence of actors Latinos/Hispanics through their creative development, education, and community empowerment. These awards are considered the most important theater wards for Hispanics throughout the East Coast of the United States. Chita Rivera joins figures such as José Ferrer, Raúl Juliá, Tanya Payán and other Latino icons whose names have also been immortalized in extraordinary recognition within HOLA.