Perpich News

Valentine Lowry-Ortega (Theater 2018) Performs for Dedication 2024

September 16, 2024

Valentine Lowry-Ortega (Theater 2018)

Dedication Day 2024 was September 16. Dedication is a Perpich tradition where new students and faculty/staff are welcomed into the Perpich community. The faculty speaker, Derek Debrauske (Science Instructor), shared his passion for science, the arts, and our students’ connection to the greater value and appreciation for the environment and the Perpich campus. Our alumni speaker, Alison Bergblom Johnson (Literary Arts 1999), was beyond thrilled to be invited to share her poetry exploring disability, identity, and joy. Our alumni performer, Valentine Lowry-Ortega (Theater 2018), sang several original songs and wove them together with storytelling that was deeply personal and powerful.

“It was great to be back!” said Valentine. Lowry-Ortega is a singer-songwriter, electronic producer, actor, playwright, and apprentice sound engineer originally from Worthington, Minnesota. Their band, Oceanographer, is a four piece “Midwest Dreamo dorkpop band” with several shows happening this fall. They have been performing from as early as six years old, singing in talent shows, musicals, and choir. They picked up the guitar at age 14 and immediately joined a punk band with their middle school friends, opening up their love for rock and contemporary music. Valentine is a communications and advancement associate at the Domestic Abuse Project where they aid in fundraising and social media marketing. They have a very part time engineering apprenticeship at Soft Cult Studio in NE Minneapolis where they’ve been recording the band’s new EP. “I would def love to give Soft Cult (and my mentor Matt Castore) a shout out. It’s a great place to learn how to record and they charge super reasonable rates for the up and coming artist.”

Valentine attended Perpich for their senior year. “I had a good experience at Perpich overall, though it felt a little difficult to adjust to being an incoming senior. I felt a little sad at times that I didn’t have the same history and connections with some of my peers, but I think Perpich deeply influenced my view of myself as an artist. After being the big fish in a little pond in my high school theater program, I felt challenged in a new way and was excited to be surrounded by peers who were more like-minded. I enjoyed the emphasis on history, text, and activism present in my education, and learned that performing isn’t about being a ‘star’. I became a staunch anti-capitalist and have since been motivated to make art for the sake of making it, not to receive fame or accolades. If you enjoy making it, and you enjoy consuming it, your job is done. The rest is just a bonus.”

Bob Frey, Social Studies Instructor; Valentine Lowry-Ortega (Theater 2018); Alison Bergblom Johnson (Literary Arts 1999) at Dedication 2024.

They went on to major in acting, and though the experience was fairly negative, the years in school turned out to be a pivotal time. “I experienced a sexual assault in college, a lot of classism, didn’t feel supported by my program, and ultimately became ostracized. This isn’t to discourage people from majoring in acting, it was just my own coincidental experience. Though this was very difficult for me, I would argue it forced me to start authentically living as myself—something I was encouraged to do at Perpich, but had slowly forgotten. Because I had nothing to lose, after being so isolated, I was able to discover more about myself and came out as nonbinary (at the age of 22) and also discovered that I had autism around the same age, and became passionate about the celebration of neurodiversity. I realized that the difference between Perpich and my college program was that neurodiversity and queerness were already celebrated (even back in 2018) at Arts High, and the rest of the collegiate world had some catching up to do. Since I left my BFA program, I have emerged from the ashes and have been living authentically as an artist. My experience as a second gen Venezuelan, my neurodivergence, my queerness, and my upbringing in poverty are at the forefront of the music I write. ‘Write what you know’ was something I was always encouraged to do during my time at Perpich.”

Valentine would love to give Bob Frey (Social Studies Instructor) a shoutout for being a companion in their love for folk music, Sun Yung Shin (former English Instructor) for “exposing me to new literature”, and James Allen (Music Instructor) for “letting me join jazz ensemble as a theater kid.” They would also love to give Tory Peterson (Theater Instructor) a shoutout for “dealing with all the drama our class of 2018 created.”

Valentine Lowry-Ortega links: