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Is this the Latino Lollapalooza? On Tuesday, Michelada Fest announced the lineup for this year’s edition, set for July 19 and 20 at Oakwood Beach in Chicago, featuring acts such as Danny Ocean, Anitta, Grupo Firme, and Netón Vega.

Saturday’s edition, headlined by Ocean and Anitta, will feature a reggaeton-leaning crew of performers including dembow queen Tokischa, “Gata Only” reggaetonero FloyyMenor, Bay Area rapper Snow the Product, group Calle 24, and Lomiiel. Major Lazer Soundsystem will bring electronic music to the fest, while Estevie will rep música mexicana on Day One.

A new study released by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative covering the top films from 2007 to 2022 has found that Hispanic/Latino representation both in front of the camera and behind has not improved in 16 years. And even when the community lands prominent roles, they’re usually stereotyped as immigrants or as having low income.

The initiative’s study, released Monday, examined 1,600 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2022 and more than 62,000 speaking characters. It found that there was not one year during that span that all film distributors released at least one movie with a Latino or Hispanic lead/co-lead.

Four of the seven biggest distributors had fewer than 10 films in 16 years with a Hispanic/Latino lead. Warner Bros had had worst record among the studios, per the study, with only three movies featuring a Hispanic/Latino lead or co-lead in the 16-year time frame.

Courtesy of The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

When Hispanics...

For all the posturing and promises extended to women in music for years, the music industry has proven almost entirely ineffective at diversifying the mostly male ranks that create music’s biggest tracks. That’s according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s latest “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” report, which for the past five years has analyzed gender makeup of artists, songwriters, and producers behind all of the tracks on the Billboard’s year end Hot 100 and on the nominations for major Grammy categories, effectively quantifying how little representation...

A new report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative— released to coincide with the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month—finds popular movies continue to marginalize Hispanics and Latinos.

The investigation—co-authored by Ariana Case, Zoily Mercado, and Karla Hernandez —assessed leading and co-leading Hispanic and Latino actors and all speaking characters across 1,300 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2019, as well as their presence working behind the camera as directors, producers, and casting directors.

It’s important to note: Hispanics/Latinos spend $1.7 trillion as consumers. They account for 25 percent of movie tickets sold.

“Whether in leading roles or across all speaking characters, the absence of Hispanic and Latino actors and characters is noticeable. This community represents nearly 20% of the U.S. population and nearly half of Los Angeles residents and yet remains almost invisible on screen,” Case said in a statement.

To preface the findings, the words Hispanic and Latino are not interchangeable.

Same song, different verse — quite literally, it turns out. On Monday (March 8th), the University of South California’s Annenberg Institute released its latest report on music creator demographics, finding that women still make up meager percentages of artists, songwriters, and producers on music charts and award-nomination slates, marking “no meaningful and sustained increase” in the number of female musicians in the male-governed music-making business in close to a decade.

The fourth annual report, conducted by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative with funding from Spotify, examined the gender and race of artists,...