LOS ANGELES, CA – August 31, 2016 – The Los Angeles Music and Art School (LAMusArt) announced that Hollywood Latina media maven, Bel Hernandez Castillo, President of Latin Heat Media LLC, will present her with the Creative Leadership in Arts Award at their 70th Anniversary Benefit Concert and Gran Fiesta!, on September 12, 2015, in Santa Monica, CA.

“LAMusArt is proud to honor Bel Hernandez Castillo for her dedicated advocacy of Latino and Hispanic professionals in the entertainment industry,” said Manny Prieto, Executive Director, LAMusArt. “Her crucial work to provide a more inclusive and visible path for our East Los Angeles students to pursue creative careers is admirable and appreciated.”

Hernandez Castillo joins a distinguished group of past LAMusArt Creative Paths in Leadership Award recipients that include philanthropists and founders of the National Transplantation Institute, Drs. Rafael and Robert Mendez, film producer and executive, Moctesuma Esparza, and executives such as George A. Ramirez.

“I am honored and grateful to be recognized with this award by such a formidable arts institution which has been serving the youth of East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and the surrounding communities since 1945,” said Hernandez Castillo. “This is a community I know so well, since it is where I grew up.”

Hernandez Castillo, is an award-winning journalist, author, producer and CEO of Latin Heat Media, LLC, an integrated multi-media and entertainment company, which was founded when the company published the first entertainment trade focused on Latino talent in 1992 (now on the web www.latinheat.com).

Over the years, LatinHeat Media has also moved into producing digital content, theater productions and now film and television; always with the mission to providing platforms and exposure to Latinos in Hollywood. To this end, Hernandez Castillo is the creator, executive producer, and one of four Latina hosts of the TV talk show, HOLA! LA, which has been airing on KCAL9/CBS2 since 2012. On September 20, 2015 HOLA! LA is back with a special Hispanic Heritage Month episode.

Additionally this year, LatinHeat Media launches LatinHeat Cinema, a new online licensing, distribution and streaming platform for Latino content makers, a co-venture with American Latino Theatre.

Giving back to her community is very important to Hernandez Castillo. She is one of the founders of the LatinHeat Media Institute, a nonprofit organization, which utilizes multiple platforms and strategic alliances to inform, educate, connect, and empower Latinos in entertainment by providing the resources and tools they will need. LatinHeat Media Institute will launch its inaugural LatinoMediaVisions (LMV) monthly series on Sept. 17th with the premiere of indie film, Strike One, starring Danny Trejo and Johnny Ortiz. LMV focuses on showcasing and promoting the work of Latino media content makers, in addition to offering entrepreneurial development programs to Latino independent filmmakers.

Through the various platforms under the umbrella of LatinHeat Media, LLC and the non-profit organization, LatinHeat Media Institute, Ms. Hernandez Castillo fulfills her life’s mission of developing, promoting and creating content by Latinos, about Latinos for universal audiences.

The 70th Anniversary LAMusArt Anniversary Benefit Concert and Gran Fiesta! will take place at 7PM, September 12, 2015 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica. For more information on this year’s Stars for the Arts Gran Fiesta! and to find out how you can help provide kids access to the arts, please visit www.LAMusArt/org/GranFiesta.

About LAMusArt Award Recipient
Bel Hernandez Castillo is an award-winning journalist, Author and Producer, and the President/CEO of Latin Heat Media, LLC, an integrated media and entertainment company. Since 1992, she has published Latin Heat, the first entertainment trade publication focused on Latinos in Hollywood, now on the web (www.latinheat.com). She is the creator, executive producer and host of HOLA! LA, an all Latina hosted talk show aired by KCAL9 and KCBS2). In 2000, Moviemaker Magazine dubbed her the “Godmother of Latino Hollywood.” She served six years as a member on the prestigious Peabody Awards Board, is on the Business Board of the National Hispanic Media Coalition; and she has been recognized for her journalist endeavors by the Hispanic Public Relations Association, Latina Style Magazine, La Opinion, National Hispanic Health Foundation, National Hispanic Media Coalition, the City of Los Angeles, the HPRA and Women in Theater Festival. In 2012 she received an NCLR ALMA Award for her contributions to the entertainment community and in commemoration of Latin Heat’s 20th anniversary. She is one of the authors of the anthology, ”8 Ways to Say I Love My Life” written by eight professional Latinas who recount the triumph of their lives. The book was adapted into a theatrical production, which Ms. Hernandez Castillo produced and went on to win an Imagen Award in 2009 for Best Theatrical Presentation. Ms. Hernandez Castillo is currently raising funds for the 3rd national tour of Latin Heat Media’s “Veterans: A Legacy of Valor”, written by Enrique Castillo. This Imagen Award-winning production highlights the real lives of four Mexican Medal of Honor recipients, David Barkley Cantu (Army), Macario Garcia (Army), Eugene Obregon (Marine Corp) and Roy Benavides (Army Special Forces). She is married to actor Enrique Castillo and has three grown children and three grandchildren.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Elia Esparza
Phone: 323-501-3717
Email: [email protected]
www.AlwaysEvolvingPR.com

 

Source: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1d53a21a59758d7e337800796&id=2dbc45e8ea