We collected a total of 85 surveys. We collected these surveys in person at locations with high concentrations of the Hispanic/ Latinx community. These areas include CTown (a local Hispanic grocery store), the Park Street area, Pope Park and the Downtown library.
The goal of the surveys was to reach out to the broader Latinx community in addition to organizations or artists that are active and visible in the community. This was really important to us because our community partner wanted to weave themselves in the community rather than just work around the Hispanic/Latinx community.
The survey was designed to answer the first part of our second research question, “where does the LatinX community spend their free time and what art and/or cultural activities are most relevant to the community?”. The survey questions designed to be short and easy to answer. We focused on where survey respondents spend their free time.
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- Where was the last place you went for entertainment?
- What are your favorite hangout spots?
- What organizations are important to you that are related to your culture?
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Survey Results and Analysis:
Most of the responses gathered were qualitative. In order to analyze them, we coded these responses. Some responses were coded into multiple categories and as a result of this some our numerical data does not sum up to 100%.
The age range of our survey responses was 18-61 with the average age being 33. As an open-ended question, we asked what gender respondents identified as. This was in hopes to grasp the broad gender spectrum of the population. 45% self-identified as female, 40% identified as male and 14% identified as nonbinary.
Race And Ethnicity
Although we named our project LatinX Theater we recognized the importance of addressing the population as they wish to be, because of this we asked the race/ethnicity that respondents identified as. We received a multitude of answers, many simply identifying with their nationality rather than their race.
Children
60% of respondents had children and 40% did not.
This was very useful considering the Hartford Stage may want to invest in potential family oriented or children’s programs in the future with this data.
This was like a reassurance that we got to interview organizations that the community knew about and had relationships with. It shows once again that our contacted population, that includes artist and also organizations that we interviewed along with those we never got to interview but were attempted to contact, was a good representation of the Latinx/ Hispanic community.
Entertainment : What were the popular places that people went for entertainment?
Hangouts: What are the favorite hangout spots to spend leisure time in?
Our most popular hangout spot responses were local restaurants. Some of these included La Casona, Comerio Restaurant, and local bakeries like Sol de Borinquen.
What Organizations Are Important
65% of responses included local businesses as organizations that were important to their culture. 49% included civic and/or arts organizations.
These businesses give our team and also our community partner a very good idea of the Latinx/Hispanic community in Hartford and the importance of their culture. Food is a huge part of the culture and the Hispanic culture does not fall short. The boutiques demonstrate the youth culture and traditional celebrations. The corner stores proved to be places that many people hung outside of in their spare times. Many of the responses mentioned liking Spanish music in the stores. Both beauty salons and barber shops represented places that the community men, women and non-binary members of the Latinx community spent their free time. Also, beauty salons and barber shops were places that a lot of responders mentioned either working at after migrating to CT or going to connect with people of their culture.