In Episode 3 of Fast Forward, Brisa sits down with Modesto 'Flako' Jimenez for an intimate and expansive conversation about identity, memory, and wellness through artistic practice.
Together, they explore who Flako is as an artist, who Mercedes was, and what MERCEDES the project has become. This is a case study in how creative work can function as healing, reclamation, and emotional processing.
As this season examines Health and Wellness, MERCEDES offers a powerful lens into how art holds grief, legacy, transformation, and care. It is also paving the way for what cross-sectoral partnership can look like! Brisa and Flako unpack the relationship between storytelling and selfhood, and how creative practice can become a site of restoration.
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About MTF
MTF equips artists to create musical stories as a collective force for justice, healing, and radical imagination.
Stay in Orbit:
Website: www.mtf.nyc
Instagram: @mtfmusicals
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CREDITS
Produced by | MTF Musicals
Hosted by | Brisa Areli Muñoz
Featuring | Modesto 'Flako' Jimenez, MERCEDES, &
Production
Creative Director | Andrea Negrete
DP | Andrew Young
Editing | Andrew Young
Sound Mixing | Falan Nuhring
MTF Team
Abigail Grubb | Director of Interdependence & Collective Care
Andrea Negrete | Director of Access & Advocacy
AriDy Nox | Director of Decolonization & Sustainability
Brisa Areli Muñoz | Director of Artistic Innovation & Emergent Magic
Brandon Powers | Artistic Innovation Lead
Falan Nuhring | Coordinator of Connectivity & Systems
Sidney Erik Wright | Artistic Programs Lead
MTF Board of Directors
Amy Goldwasser
Ariel Estrada
Catherine Pulley-Dennison
Cheyenne Myrie
Isabel Quinzaños Alonso
M Von Nida
Special Thanks To
The MTF Community & MTF Makers Past and Present
Kelindah Bee | Producer of Fast Forward Live Tapings
Sol & Yue Productions
Shakina Nayfack | Founding Artistic Director
Mei Ann Teo | Former Artistic Director
Walter
MTF’s Institutional Support
The Mellon Foundation
Joseph F. Savage Jr. Charitable Foundation
Howard Gilman Foundation
The Jerome Foundation
Fast Forward is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
