Category Archives: 2015

The New Rican Spirit

by . Posted on
01 Nov

photo by: Jose Carrero
New Rican Village Alumni Reunion, Round-Table and Reception
(celebrating the Young Lords cultural legacy to the Lower East Side)

The purpose of this activity is to:

1. Recognize the Lower East Side neighborhood legacy of the Young Lords Party.

2. Honor the 25th anniversary of the passing of Eddie Figueroa, the founder of the New Rican Village Cultural Arts center, whose battle with cancer ended in 1990.

3. Offer an opportunity for peer organizations to celebrate a community instrumental in creating an innovative Latin@ arts spirit and institution within New York City.
The New Rican Spirit-A Celebration of the New Rican Village Cultural Arts Center, Eddie Figueroa, and ¡Presente! The Young Lords in New York

Starting with the Young Lords Party’s (YLP) official announcement at Tompkins Square Park in 1969, the ¡Presente! exhibition highlights the important activism spearheaded by the YLP as it operated within the context of the Lower East Side.

One of the institutions that came out of this era was the New Rican Village Cultural Arts Center (NRV) established by Lower East Young Lord member, Eddie Figueroa. The NRV, is an overlooked and under-appreciated Loisaida cultural arts institution that was as an aesthetic laboratory for a working-class, Puerto Rican/Latin@ avant-garde arts community since it opened in 1976 through its closing in 1979 (it continued to exist in other locations throughout New York City).

This art collective’s goals fostered a social surrealism that sought to transform both aesthetic forms and neighborhoods. The inter-arts community of musicians, poets, painters, actors, dancers, sculptors, and visual artists at the New Rican Village envisioned the importance of building community art spaces and political sovereignty by establishing and building an independent, community-based arts institution and also contributing to a Latin@ cultural arts scene within New York City, helping establish a Latin@ Cultural Left that was emerging among various Puerto Rican/Latino cultural arts centers at the time. Finally, the NRV helped to foster a New Rican Renaissance that celebrated a marginalized identity, and also translate the zeitgest of resistance and aesthetic and intellectual exploration into various art forms.

This event would not be possible without the co-sponsorship support of: Lower Eastside Girls Club, AllCare Provider Services, Inc.Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center,Latino Studies Department at Fordham UniversityCarlos Aponte, Lisa Baltazar, Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé,Pepe Flores, Libertad Guerra, Ana Ramos,Wilson Valentín-Escobar.

Sonidos Primarios

by . Posted on
07 Oct

Saturday, October 10th

Loisaida Inc and Plenatorium Project present a double feature:

12:30pm

Sonidos Primarios: a hands-on discussion and presentation by artists who produce kid-friendly cultural content featuring an album of traditional Puerto Rican music for children by Viento de Agua, a Grammy Nominated bomba and plena contemporary band dedicated to de production of new music and projects as well as teaching the traditional rhtyms… Bring the kids! $5 suggested donation

Come share with Grammy-nominee and percussion master Tito Matos about the experience and details of recording a kid’s musical record. Tito and his group Viento de Agua have just released a children’s songs record, Sonidos Primarios, and he comes to share the experience and to perform a few of the songs from the record. He will be joined in the discussion by the members of the band Aclopaditos, who have vast experience in teaching and recording for children. Acopladitos will also perform a few songs for the enjoyment of all. Bring your little ones!

Following the presentation:
2:30pm

‘The New Latinos’ – screening and guided discussion featuring Tito Matos and Tato Torres.

Join us in the viewing of ‘The New Latinos’, episode 4 of The Latino Americans documentary series. This 60 minutes episode, that dwells on the experience of the Caribbean migration (Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican) to the United States, will be followed by a hands-on-drums one hour discussion reflecting on the musical aspects of these diasporic groups; the discussion will specifically revolve around the preservation, innovations, and hybridization of the musical traditions of these three groups after their arrival to the continental United States. The hands-on-drums discussion will be led by Grammy Award nominee, the maestro Tito Matos, and Tato Torres, founder, singer and leader of the group YERBABUENA. This viewing and talk are part of the Loisaida, Inc. Center’s Plenatorium Project initiative and part of the American Library Association/NEH Grant The Latino Americans, LA500.

Sponsored by The National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association with Acopladitos and Viento de Agua

We refused to cave In

by . Posted on
29 Jun

Sept. 24th, 2015 – “We refused to cave In”: Gender, Race, Class, and Decolonial Intersectionality in the Young Lords’ Liberation Politics

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Darrel Wanzer-Serrano
Assistant Professor, The University of Iowa

Based on a chapter from The New York Young Lords and the Struggle for Liberation (Temple University Press, 2015), this talk engages the process by which the Young Lords shifted from an organization rooted in the idea that “machismo” could be “revolutionary” to one that rejected machismo as a product of a racist/sexist/imperialist/capitalist system. The Young Lords advanced a nuanced and cutting-edge critique of the intersectionality of oppression and extended their analysis from the internal workings of the organization to society at large. The transformation ushered in by this “revolution within the revolution” was not instantaneous, however. Rather, there was significant struggle within the organization that first led to policy and leadership changes. Once the Young Lords advanced the rejection of machismo in their official platform, it opened space for the emergence of a gay and lesbian caucus and coalitional politics with lesbian, gay, and trans* activists, like Sylvia Rivera. Their intersectional perspective was central, I argue, to a kind of decolonial critical politics that eschewed a focus on rights in preference for attentiveness to and claims for liberation. In this framework, which is also advanced by most scholars of de/coloniality, liberation is an alternative to emancipation—the latter of which relies on claims to recognition that fortify the legitimacy of the modern/colonial system. Liberation, then, seeks a liberty delinked from classical liberalism, mindful of affiliations and fraternal connections, and guided by an ethic of decolonial love, even as colonial wounds can never fully heal.

About the book:

The book summary and a blurb by Andrés Torres can be found on the Temple Press website here: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/2346_reg.html

The publicity manager at Temple is Gary Kramer and can be reached at gkramer@temple.edu.

Author/Speaker Long Bio:

Darrel Wanzer-Serrano (PhD, Indiana University) is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Public Advocacy in the Department of Communication Studies, and founding member of the Latina/o Studies Minor Advisory Board, at the University of Iowa. His research is focused on the intersections of race, ethnicity, and public discourse, particularly as they relate to formations of coloniality and decoloniality in the United States. He recently completed a project on the New York Young Lords with the first scholarly monograph on the organization, The New York Young Lords and the Struggle for Liberation (Temple University Press, 2015). He also edited The Young Lords: A Reader (New York University Press, 2010), a sourcebook of primary texts on the group; and he has published numerous articles on the organization and other topics. Darrel is currently working on a new book project, tentatively titled Possession: Crafting Americanity in Congressional Debates over Puerto Rico’s Status, which examines the formation of coloniality and the rhetoric of Americanity within the first twenty years of US entanglement with Puerto Rico.

Collective Group Show

by . Posted on
10 Jun

en casa afuera

June 12- 19

Opening Reception and Performances June 12 at 6:00 pm.

A live exhibit which will bring together new young artists— Mckenzie Angelo, Anthony Rosado, Jonathan Gonzalez, Yoira Santos, Adam Echahly, Lamar Stephens, Adam Rhodes, Chazz Bruce, and Stephanie Mota.

 

Curatorial Statement 

en casa afuera –

Think gentrification is completely erasing the hirstory and identities of native New York residents? Think again. Amidst new developments, increasing rents, empty storefronts, newcomers in LES, Crown Heights, Washington Heights, Harlem, & Bushwick, artists are finding ways to claim their stake in the areas, tethering the old soul of these communities. A group of such artists are coming to Loisaida, Inc.’s Center, one of the remaining physical spaces serving the LES and NYC Latino and independent community, to present a series of interactive works paying tribute to the Home(s).

en casa afuera, a live exhibit which will run from June 12th to June 19th, brings together new young artists from the metropolitan New York and New Jersey region spanning the ages of mid 20’s-30’s.— Mckenzie Angelo, Anthony Rosado, Jonathan Gonzalez, Yoira Santos, Adam Echahly, Lamar Stephens, Adam Rhodes, Chazz Bruce, and Stephanie Mota. They came together to investigate the intersections of home and displacement, as well as the potential for art making to reflect and revision these relations. Loisaida Inc., as the performance hub, may then be the home or shelter that localizes this web of creative results.

The process of what initially began as a series of conversations on the shifting dynamics of New York City, the forces that will it, and what is authentic in these urban amalgamations, developed into a need to generate around these lofty queries – what is home? and what remains as the physical departs from what we know it to be? (whether by a stripping of possession or decay.) Lastly, what does this process of transition look like, feel like, for us?

Visitors and members of the community, old and new, are encouraged to the engage in and think about the daily rituals of Home(s). The series of installations range from the symbolic to the banal. One of the works, a collage in the main hallways shows a Nuyorican’s response to gentrification while another shares with audiences the everyday objects our communities use to pamper themselves. Together, all works zoom in and out of the experience of a changing neighborhood.

en casa afuera represents and shines light onto the complex process of change and gentrification in NYC, and celebrates the histories that are passed on from generation to generation and carried everywhere. Above all, they encourage artists and guests to preserving our stories and our communities will follow.

When asked what Loisaida means for them the group responded:
“Loisaida has been an iconic place-maker for both its residents and the world at large. It architecturally houses the pride and cultural breadth of a community, while transcending the energetic embodiment of LES – a location/identity in flux. These dynamics are at the heart of our creative interests and explorations en casa afuera.”

 

Invisible Loisaida – Ideas City

by . Posted on
27 May

IDEAS CITY

Part of the Street Program 12:00 -6:00pm

Loisaida Inc: Invisible Loisaida

The booth by Loisaida, Inc. will play with the visible and invisible tensions of rescued social spaces, their cultural output, and their lack of inclusion in the mainstream story line of the Lower East Side. Through a collaborative installation by resident artists Edgardo Tomás Larregui and Alejandro Epifanio, the booth will recreate the vernacular architecture of “seclusion” and social gathering elements of the traditional casita or urban community garden. Our casita also involves a strategy to render visible the reality of Loisaida, Inc., a social-cultural-artistic community (Latino/Puerto Rican Lower East Side), whose contributions to New York City and the downtown scene have usually remained unacknowledged, absent, and invisible to the hegemonic artistic and cultural narratives of New York City’s creative myth. The presentation will feature a listening station of oral histories by Laura Zelasnic, performances by ongoing Loisaida Center collaborators and projects: the Salvage Project; Flux Theater Ensemble; the Plenatorium, which nurtures and documents the “plena universe”; and Edwin Torres, a Nuyorican poet, performer, and downtown icon, who will explore the nonappearance of “No-isaida.”

A– ONGOING programming throughout the day:

1. Display and live screen-printing of the templates and prints developed and produced through our workshop: Building Community Through the Arts, a partnership with Hester Street Collaborative.

2. Listening Station featuring oral histories focused on local Latino cultural and community organizations such as CHARAS and Loisaida, Inc., by Laura Zelasnic.

3. Visual Collaborative Installation(s) between artist collaborators of the Loisaida Center. The entire booth will act as an installation and visual collaboration between visual artist’s Alejandro Epifanio and Edgardo Larregui with the support of Urban Garden Center NYC.

B– SCHEDULED programming by time-slots:

3:00 pm – The Salvage Project: 

Story circles facilitated by the Loisaida Center’s artistic residents Flux Theater Ensemble where community members will share the stories of a precious object and have their stories transformed by professional playwrights into short monologues.

http://www.fluxtheatre.org/2015/02/flux-announces-art-residency-loisaida-center/

4:00 pm – Edwin Torres:

“Nuyorican” (New York-Puerto Rican) poet-performer-sound artist and downtown icon will present work based on the Invisible Loisaida theme. Torres’s work bridges numerous downtown and Loisaida traditions and scenes, from the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and beyond. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Torres_(poet)

5:00pm – PLENATORIUM:

A project initiative of the Loisaida Center focused on the nurturing and documentation of the practice of Puerto Rican plena, a genre of popular traditional music, song and dance native to the island of Puerto Rico, but related to similar Afro-diasporic expressions throughout the Caribbean and commonly present within the casita/community garden culture.

Planetarium means a space for the plena-universe of activities such as forums, workshops, performances, and other forms of plena-focused sociocultural participation.

http://loisaida.org/plenatorium/

Invisible Loisaida was made possible by: 9C Community Garden – Northeast Avenue C & 9 Street

 

The 28th Annual Loisaida Festival

by . Posted on
25 May

A Festival For All

Latinos (re)Planted their Flag in the Lower East Side with the 28th Loisaida Festival 

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NEW YORK, NY – On May 24st, 2015 the 28th Loisaida Festival uncovered the Latino spirit still very much alive in the Lower East Side. This year’s Festival created an over-the-top Latin performance art, music, and culinary experience that celebrated Puerto Rican and Latino culture and history, as well as its present and future in downtown Manhattan. Avenue C from 6th to 12th street reclaimed its role as a hub of Latino creativity and culture in the city and the nation, as this year’s festival featured offerings and acts from the neighborhood and from all over the United States, from East L.A. to Puerto Rico.

Kicking off the Festival was a Carnival Procession, a rarity in the downtown area nowadays. The Felix Millan Little League, established in 1977 and named after the famous Puerto Rican baseball player, and the New York Stars and Marching band from Washington Heights led the parade, which culminated in the mainstage, where a host of music genres came together through acts by DMob, Capa Prieto, Calma Carmona, Chicano Batman, E.A. Flow, Papote Jimenez and his Orchestra, and Johnny Olivio y Herencia de Plena. The different genres captured the diverse makeup the Latino community in NYC. The energy of the day was such that Chicano Batman and Calma Carmona delighted the audience with an impromptu jamming session—live. Luis Guzman, a product of Loisaida, captivated the audience with his energy.

Beyond, the Theater Lab, the street performers, the Latino fare and domino tournaments, were also the Viva Loisaida Awards. Announced earlier in the week at a special Opening Reception, the awards themselves were given to four pillars of the community: Nydia Velazquez for her bold leadership, and long-standing support to the Latino community causes. Marlis Momber whose legendary photographic and documentary work has illustrated the struggle and character of the mostly Latinos people living in the Lower East Side since the 70s; Dr. Joseph Kramer, known as “El Doctor del Pueblo,” who served as a doctor to thousands over the years from his storefront on Ave D, regardless of their ability to pay; Lizabeth Bruno whose admirable passion for environmental and social justice issues led her to establish the LES Girls Club CSA; Sammy Tanco, an unquestionable pillar of NY’s Puerto Rican community, respected master of plena music who helped co-organize the first Loisaida Festival along Tato Laviera and has been a figure of social and cultural re-affirmation of Loisaida for over 40 years.

A particularly unique aspect of the Festival, beyond the diversity of offerings, was the wide range of audience members. People of all generations, groups, and countries came together in a single spot. A celebration of all the rich layers, diversity, and textures that made the Lower East Side of Manhattan an iconic neighborhood, the 28th Loisaida Festival provided a delicious shot of Latino culture that left us wanting for more.

ABOUT LOISAIDA INC: Loisaida, Inc. is a Latino-based non-profit community development organization affiliated to Acacia Network. Located in the Lower East Side, it boasts over 30 years of award-winning innovative programs in education, arts, culture and community development focused on highlighting the contributions of Latinos to the vibrant cultural fabric of downtown Manhattan. One of the events Loisaida, Inc. is best known for is theLoisaida Festival, a Festival that has long celebrated Latino culture in the Lower East Side while also highlighting the community’s rich diversity. This year’s event is presented by Popular Community Bank and Acacia Network. Additional major sponsors are the Hispanic Federation, Phipps Houses, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, ConEdison, Well Care, El Diario la Prensa, Webster Hall, Two Boots, Gale A. Brewer, Gouverneur Health, Rojo Chiringa, among others.

Photo Credits: Javier Romero 

#LoisaidaFest2015

Facebook.com/LoisaidaFest / Twitter.com/loisaidafest

*SALVAGE WORLD PREMIERE* 04/10/2015

by . Posted on
photograph / graphic design by Isaiah Tanenbaum
30 Mar

The Loisaida Center & Flux Theatre Ensemble presents:

SALVAGE

by August Schulenburg
directed by Heather Cohn

featuring the debut of Flux’s LIVING TICKET

WORLD PREMIERE

OPENING NIGHT FRIDAY, APRIL 10 – 8:00pm

PREVIEWS APRIL 8 & 9 – 8:00pm

NO PERFORMANCES APRIL 15 OR APRIL 24

Flux Theatre Ensemble will present the World Premiere of August Schulenburg’s (Jane the Plain with Flux) Salvage, April 8 – 25 at The Loisaida Center (710 E 9th St on Ave C). The production will be directed by Heather Cohn (NYIT Award-nominated production of Sans Merci with Flux) with Assistant Director Emily Hartford (Jane the Plane with Flux) and will feature Sol Crespo (DEINDE with Flux), Rachael Hip-Flores (Once Upon A Bride There Was a Forest with Flux), Mike Mihm* (Ajax in Iraq with Flux), and Isaiah Tanenbaum* (Jane the Plain with Flux). The creative team will include Sound Design by Janie Bullard (2014 USITT/LDI Rising Star Award Winner, NY Theatre Now 2013 Person of the Year; 2014 NYIT Nominee for Jane the Plain), Scenic Design by Will Lowry (Once Upon a Bride There Was a Forest with Flux), Costume Design by Becky Byers (asst. on Jane the Plain, Sans Merci, and Honey Fist with Flux), Lighting Design by Kia Rogers (2014 NYIT Award for Jane the Plain), and Props Design by Alisha Spielmann (Jane the Plain with Flux). The Production Stage Manager will be Jodi M. Witherell.

*Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

Salvage is a drama about Noma and Akiko, two government officials searching for precious objects through what’s left of a post-catastrophe New York City. When their manager Dennis hires Mandy, a veteran from America’s many wars, the searchers discover things that make them question their mission, and whether it’s time to let their city go.

Salvage will be presented by Flux Theatre Ensemble at The Loisaida Center (710 East 9th St on Ave C) April 8 – 25, Monday through Saturday at 8pm, with no performances on Wednesday April 15 or Friday April 24.

Beginning with Salvage, no financial transaction is required to attend a Flux performance. Instead, Flux will use a “Living Ticket.” In their commitment to financial transparency, Flux will share their operating budget and leave it to each audience member to donate as they see fit.

Get Tickets Now!


photograph / graphic design by Isaiah Tanenbaum

AUGUST SCHULENBURG (Playwright) is a founding Creative Partner of Flux and current Artistic Director.  With Flux, he directed Ajax in Iraq (NYITA nomination), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Food:Souls Goldsboro and Volleygirls.  As an actor with Flux, he has played Dr. X in Hearts Like Fists, Ezekiel in 8 Little Antichrists (NYITA nomination), and the Professor in Rue. As a playwright, his work with Flux includes Riding the Bull, Rue, Other Bodies, The Lesser Seductions of History, Jacob’s House, DEINDE and Honey Fist.

August’s plays include Carrin Beginning, Kidding Jane, Rue, Riding the Bull, Good Hope, Other Bodies, Honey Fist, Dark Matter, Jacob’s House, DEINDE, Dream Walker, Denny and Lila, Dark Matter, Jane the Plain and The Lesser Seductions of History. His plays have been produced and developed at the Lark Play Development Center, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Chelsea Playhouse, Theater for the New City, Portland Stage Company, Dayton Playhouse, Colonial Players, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Contemporary Stage Company, Abingdon Theater Company, Gideon Productions, New Amerikan Theatre, Penobscot Theatre, Impetuous Theater Group, Decades Out, Soundtrack Series, Reverie Productions, Wolf 359, Blue Box Productions, Piper McKenzie, Boomerang Theatre Company, Adaptive Arts, Hall High School, Nosedive Productions,  MTWorks, Purple Repertory, Valley Repertory Company, The Brick Theater, CAPS LOCK Theatre, Chameleon Theatre Circle, Retro Productions, Elephant Run District, and TheatreLAB and Flux Theatre Ensemble. He is a member of the Propulsion Lab for Mission to (dit)Mars. His work has also been published in the New York Theater Review, Stage and Screen, Indie Theater Now, Midway Journal, NoPassport Press and in two issues of Carrier Pigeon. He also writes for film and television with MozzleStead Productions.

Visit him online at augustschulenburg.wordpress.com

HEATHER COHN (Director) is a co-founder and Producing Director of Flux Theatre Ensemble. Directing credits for Flux include: Kristen Palmer’s Once Upon A Bride There Was a Forest, Johnna Adams’ Sans Merci (NYITA nomination, Best Original Script), August Schulenburg’s DEINDE, Erin Browne’s Menders, August Schulenburg’s The Lesser Seductions of History (nominated for Outstanding Direction, NYITA) and Other Bodies (FringeNYC Excellence Award for Direction) and numerous staged readings. Outside of Flux: Assistant Director to Austin Pendleton on Johnna Adams’ Gidion’s Knot (59E59); David Stallings’ Dark Water (MTWorks – NYITA for

Outstanding Original Script; nomination for Outstanding Production) and The Stranger to Kindness (Outstanding Overall Production of a One-Act, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Awards, also nominated for Outstanding Direction Award); Mariah MacCarthy’s For the Good of the Child (Gideon Productions); Rosie The Retired Rockette and Blood (EstroGenius Festival); and numerous staged readings for companies such as: Rattlestick, The Lark, Cherry Lane, The Brick, Mission to Ditmars, On the Square Productions, MTWorks, Resonance Ensemble, Jewish Plays Project, The Platform Group and CAPS LOCKS THEATRE. Member – Women’s Project Producers’ LAB (2008-2010). Heather is a graduate of Vassar College.

FLUX THEATRE ENSEMBLE produces transformative theatre that explores and awakens the capacity for change. As an ensemble-artist driven company, Flux believes that long-term collaboration and rigorous creative development can unite artists and audiences to build a creative home in New York.

Flux is the proud recipient of two NYC Fringe Festival Awards (2007 Village Voice Audience Favorite Award for Riding the Bull; 2008 Outstanding Direction Award for Other Bodies) and an eighteen-time New York Innovative Theatre Award nominee between 2008-2014, including wins for The Angel Eaters Trilogy, Ajax in Iraq, and Jane the Plain. In 2011 The New York Innovative Theatre Awards also awarded the prestigious Caffé Cino Fellowship Award to Flux for “consistently producing outstanding work.” Flux received a Citation for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre from the Independent Theater Bloggers Association and was named one of nytheatre.com’s 2014 “People of the Decade.”

www.fluxtheatre.org