We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Annelise Salazar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Annelise below.

Annelise, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I went to Millikin University in Decatur, IL as a BA theatre major. I really had no idea what i wanted to do with my degree but i knew I loved theatre. During my first semester in Undergrad, I was required to take a “shop course” this shop course was a practical hour’s course in either the scenic, costumes, or electrics shop. I was assigned to the electrics shop. I remember being super into fixing the lights, changing the gels, listening to the lighting designers and electricians talk about the current shows we were doing. I never knew that this was a career path, I also never knew it was something I could pursue. The next semester I took a lighting class and those same electrics shop class. I was hooked! I had found my passion and my love. I met with my academic advisor and told him that i want to make a career out of being a Lighting Designer. He took notice to how much time I had been spending both in the electrics shop and in the Lighting, Lab playing and creating with the other lighting students. He agreed it would be a smart choice. These students had many years of experience over me so I had to catch up and learn all i could learn in a short period of time. At the end of the semester, I changed my Major to BFA Design and Technology with an emphasis in Lighting Design. The rest is history, I went on to Graduate School for Lighting Design and even had a few internships and apprenticeships before landing my now Job.

Annelise, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Annelise Raquel Salazar. I am a San Diego based Lighting Designer. I design for Theatre, Live events, corporate events, and Music Festivals. I am a storyteller first and foremost. many people tell their story through acting, dancing, painting. I tell my story through Lighting. In the theatre world I work closely with the other creative team members to drive the story forward and help bring the story to life. I read through the play and meet with the Director(s) and come up with a Lighting Design that is going to artistically tell our story in the best way for our production. In festival, live entertainment, and corporate work I design for the consumers. Who is coming to this event/festival? What are their colors? What time is this event at? These are all questions I have to ask and keep in mind when designing for any given job. I am most proud to be a part of so many projects that have meaning. I Design theatre shows that matter to underrepresented communities. I design for fundraisers that raise money for groups in need. It is super fulfilling with you can use your art and your passion as a tool to help and represent so many stories that go untold. Getting paid to do what you love to do is a dream in itself, but when you look out into the crowd or audience and you see how your art makes people FEEL, that is a pretty cool feeling. 9 times out of 10 people won’t notice my lighting design, but they will feel the presence of it in the concert they are at, or the theatre production they are watching and be moved by the art as a whole. That is the goal. That is why I love what I do.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I wish that I could unlearn that in order to succeed in this career you must pour your whole life into it. You must never sleep and never take breaks and always be working and go, go, go. There is time to slow down and bask in the work you do, I promise. I promise there is time to be a human and have friends and family in your life. There is also nothing wrong with taking days off to spend time with your family and friends, or to just shut your mind off for a few days. We are trained as young designers and artist to never stop and never get burnt out or tired. That is so harmful to young artist. I started seeing a difference in my work when I take time to work on a project and when I take time to sleep and eat at appropriate times. I see a difference in not only my work but my attitude towards work. The lesson I would unlearn is you don’t have to be always tired and always looking for the next best thing. Some of the most beautiful art I have made is when I have slowed down and taken my time to actually hear my thoughts and be a full human, that is when my art is at its best.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I believe my mission on my creative journey is to show the little girls who look like me that they can do whatever they want to in life. I have been a Lighting Designer Professionally for about 10 years. In my 10 years I have met about 10-15 women lighting designers, of those 10-15 only 4 were women of color. As a woman of color, I want more women of color to feel comfortable in spaces that were not created for them. Theatre was a historically straight white guy ran and operated field, but. Live entertainment has a long history of straight white men being at the top of the field over just as educated and qualified women of color. I believe that this is something worth talking about and fighting for. I like that most of the work I have done has been telling stories of the Latinx community, queer community, and so many other communities that 10 years ago would not have had a chance to tell their stories on a stage or a large platform. I am proud to be one of the few women of color lighting designers in San Diego I know that there needs to be more and there needs to be environments that allows these designers to flourish and grow. Just because these spaces were, and some still are dominated by white men does not mean we cannot come in and make new space or make the space better by having women and more particularly women of color artist involved in all the important conversations.

Contact Info:

• Website: annelisesalazardesign.com

Image Credits
Show Imaging Inc