Learn how “Sweet Land,” named the Best Opera of 2020 by the Music Critics Association of North America, was made. See how it recasts the origin story of the United States through the eyes of Native Americans and immigrants. Explore how this revisionist opera was shaped by an unusual collaboration of diverse creative voices and what it says about the roots of our divided nation today.

Following the Watts Uprising, UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television enacted affirmative action policies to increase enrollment of students of color in its film program — a group historically underrepresented in the student population. The “ethno-communications” initiative to recruit students from Black, Asian, Chicano and Native American communities became a movement known as "LA Rebellion."