2018, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Education, Family Activities, Lower East Side, Neighborhood, Partnerships, Past, Performance, Residencies, Storytelling, Visual Art

The Native Caribbean Heritage Preservation Project – Exhibition

Posted on by Alejandro

2018 Loisaida Artistic Residency Recipient, Anthony Rosado presents:

The Native Caribbean Heritage Preservation Project – Exhibition

Friday, March 23 from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm through Friday March 30, 2018

Exhibition Description:

Ní’Tiñao means “relative; friend; progenitor” in Kalinago, and is eponymous with the Taíno peoples of the Caribbean. Rosado’s work focuses on historical, indigenous Caribbean definitions of identity and the influence of their values, spirituality, horticulture, and language today, as well as our relation to these definitions right here in Loisaida.

Rosado’s exhibition aims to refute euro-colonial claims that the Ní’Tiñao were a divided peoples who went extinct. Via art and storytelling, we exist.

Objective:

In effort to honor Arawak Tainx ancestors of the Caribbean while providing their scions with the legitimacy and empowerment of cultural identity, The Testourmonials Project will research, draft, and present an Arawak Tainx Heritage Day that intends on one day being celebrated annually and internationally.  As Founder and Artistic Director of The Testourmonials Project I will develop a campaign and build a case to support city-wide, national, and international commemoration of the Arawak Tainx Heritage. 

Visitors of my Open Studio Residency will have access to traditional and modern practices cultivated by Arawak Tainx ancestry.  Through partnership with The Loisaida Center, the “Arawak Tainx Heritage Day” will ensure unity and mobility for intersectional needs of Tainx progenies.  Unity will be present during a hands-on workshop, community discussion, performance showing, and exhibition.  The intersectional needs of Tainx descendants will be revealed via interviews with revolutionaries actively preserving the Arawak Tainx culture.  Your participation on this journey, which will continue long after the Residency’s end, is the vital mobility produced from our advocacy against erasure of Arawak Tainx traditions.

The project aims to research, archive, and memorialize the herstory, history, principles, spirituality, practices, and core values of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.  Following research, the “Tainx Heritage Day – Celebration Model” will be drafted.  This model will be shared with organizations indigenous to the Arawak Tainx peoples via online survey and interviews, as well as the aforementioned workshop and community discussion.  The model will consequently be redrafted considering review by active members of the Arawak Tainx community and their modern day practices.   Once the model is complete, a proposal will be drafted and campaign launched to consider the “Arawak Tainx Heritage Day” an annual city-wide, then state-wide, thereafter country-wide, and finally internationally recognized holiday.  The holiday will be presented during Summer 2018 via promotion during events, workshops, festivals, and more hosted by organizations who supported the holiday’s culmination.

The Testourmonials Project will host an exhibition at Loisaida Inc. Center opening Monday, March 26 – 30, 2018. The exhibition will be relaying information, sources, reflections, visual art, commissioned photography, and an installation to share the research.

About Anthony Rosado:

 

2018, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Events, Lower East Side, Neighborhood, Past, Performance, Photography, Puerto Rico, Style, Theater, Visual Art

Thank You for Supporting Latinx Innovation in the LES – El Semillero Benefit Recap

Posted on by Alejandro

On behalf of the Loisaida team, thank you for attending the El Semillero Benefit event on February 27th. More than 100 of you gathered with us in support of our forthcoming makerspace and hub for ideas and innovation. As one neighborhood––an entire community, we celebrated our distinguished honorees, admired the talented artists whose work graced our auction wall, and shared in the excitement of the opportunities blooming soon at our Semillero/Seedbed.

Your energy and belief in Loisaida’s mission and vision played a huge role in the success of this inaugural celebration. Some of our favorite moments were recognizing our former City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, with our current Councilwoman Carlina Rivera and the incredible Latina and LGBTQ leadership strong in the LES, joining the executive team at Acacia with the vibrant community of Loisaida’s cultural producers, and dancing the night away to the tropical beats of D’Marquesina.

Your support at the artist, seedling, and germinator levels brought in a jumpstart in sustainability for El Semillero. We are especially grateful for the presenting sponsorship from the Arthur J. Gallagher & Company. Every penny goes to keeping our doors open and our programs thriving. All of this generosity will provide stewardship to the media and technology center––audio-visual recording and broadcasting, silk screening, carpentry, CNC milling, and more––available to the community at large.

We look forward to building with you as we bring El Semillero to life for our community! We can’t wait for you to come to The Seedbed and take advantage of all the programs and resources it will offer so we can cultivate our future and our selves.

On behalf of the Loisaida team, we would like to thank Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. for their generous support towards the inaugural El Semillero benefit event.

2018, Caribbean, Events, Music, Past, Performance, Puerto Rico, Visual Art

Noche de Bohemia with Joe Louis

Posted on by Alejandro

Joe Louis returns with his experimental bohemia to NYC from PR. Come and enjoy a night full of stories to wait for the end of the world and face it. Come to love and be loved with music and vocal improvisation. Swimming in the “Río Piedras” had never been so far away. (https://soundcloud.com/user-553207317/rio-piedras-vol-1-joe-louis-y-los-bohemios)

Suggested $10 donation.

Joe Louis regresa con su bohemia experimental a la ciudad de Nueva York. Vengan a disfrutar una noche llena de historias para esperar el fin del mundo y afrontarlo. Vengan a amar y ser amados con la música e improvisación vocal. Nadar en el “Río Piedras” nunca había estado tan lejos. ( https://soundcloud.com/user-553207317/rio-piedras-vol-1-joe-louis-y-los-bohemios)

Donación sugerida de $ 10.