2018, Book Readings, Books, Education, Lower East Side, Neighborhood, New York History, Partners, Past, Style, Youth

Book Talk: Street Gangs of the Lower East Side

Posted on by Alejandro

Details

EVENT DATE: Tuesday, January 16th at 6:30pm

With “The Street Gangs of the Lower East Side,” Jose Cochise
Quiles and Clayton Patterson provide a brutally honest, self-reflective and moving account of one person’s struggle to break the cycle of violence and poverty since birth through creativity and compassion for others in the East Village / Lower East Side. Quiles pulls no punches about the experiences that took him from gang leader to an historian of gangs, artist, and author who creates with a joyous yet desperate edge, for the sake of sheer survival.

Free with Registration

Co-sponsored by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and Loisaida Inc.

Books for sale and signing following the program.

This event is fully accessible.

2017, Bilingual, Book Readings, Books, Caribbean, Education, Events, Partners, Past, Performance, Poetry, Storytelling, Talk / Panel, Visual Art

The Avant Ricuas: A Cross-Generational Poetry Bombessa

Posted on by Alejandro

Featuring:

Victor Hernandez Cruz

Urayoan Noel

and Edwin Torres

 

This event is a reading, performance, and discussion among three Puerto Rican luminaries, celebrating the publication of Hernandez’ new book, “Beneath The Spanish” (Coffee House Press). It will take place at our Center on Wednesday, October 25th at 6:30pm

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Beneath the Spanish is history, the clash and melt of cultures, the conquest of the New World, colonialism, bilingualism, fragmentation, and cubism. Poems built of tobacco, sugar, café; Spanish, Arabic, English; José Martí, Federico García Lorca, and William Carlos Williams. A history and exploration of Hernández Cruz’s Caribbean roots as well as a documentation of and counterpoint to the origin of the European cultural intrusion into the New World, Beneath the Spanish deconstructs and reconstructs a wounded history, offering a prayer for communication between distances, oceans, music, dance, and mountains, revealing the past in the present moment we live.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VICTOR HERNANDEZ CRUZ is the author of several collections of poetry including, most recently, The Mountain in the Sea and In the Shadow of AlAndalus. Featured in Bill Moyers’s Language of Life series, Cruz’s collection Maraca was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall and Griffin Poetry Prizes. He divides his time between Morocco and his native Puerto Rico.

 

2017, Bilingual, Book Readings, Books, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Events, Past, Politics, Senior, Storytelling, Talk / Panel, Theater

Vitrina Rota – book talk with Silverio Pérez

Posted on by Alejandro

Wednesday, March 29th at 6:30pm

Loisaida Inc. Center hosts Silverio Pérez in the presentation and signing of autographs for his new book:

La Vitrina Rota “The Broken Glass Case” or What the hell happened here?

THIS EVENT HAS PASSED. SEE A VIDEO OF THE LIVE BROADCAST BELOW:

About the book:

The broken glass case, or what the hell happened here? Is a hybrid text that takes hold of what memory is and what memory offers, it is autobiographical, and a “history-o-graphic” essay. Narrated using the most respectable seriousness, the most pure emotion and a suggestive taunt, it leaves us a text that invites reflection and calm, but also calls to action and maybe encourages a calculated rebellion. All written in a tragicomic or comedic-serious tone so typical of the picaresque narrative that accompanies the Puerto Ricans from a remote past.

What Silverio does in this intense and moving volume is to look at that long 20th century that began in 1898 and continues in 2016, the American century, in the light of a repeated “promise” unfulfilled.

Exceptional witness of the time he has lived will prepare the reader for a time where “history” and “life” converge in an enviable balance.

It is also a historical and vital responsibility, well fulfilled.

Read Press Release here.

About the author:

Silverio Pérez (born July 18, 1948) is a musician, writer, comedian, entrepreneur and broadcasting media host, born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. He is known for several reasons, among them:

  • Hosting several successful Puerto Rican television shows during his career.
  • Performing with the known group of political satire called Los Rayos Gamma (The Gamma Rays)[1][2]
  • Performing with the nueva trova group called Haciendo Punto en Otro Son.
  • His motivational lectures which are usually called “Humortivación” (Humortivation).
2016, Book Readings, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Children Friendly, Dance/Movement, Education, Events, Family Activities, Festival, Partnerships, Past, Storytelling, Workshops

Loisaida’s Mini Fest

Posted on by Alejandro

Loisaida Inc. Center will be celebrating a Family day we like to call the Mini-Fest “Storytelling Edition” as part of El Festival de la Palabra NYC.

Eventbrite - Loisaida's Mini Fest

Join us:

Saturday, October 29th from 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Loisaida Inc. Center – 710 East 9th Street and Avenue C

The MiniFest will have: Creative workshops for kids, fun games and activities, storytelling and a Light Show called “Colorful Animals” with many more surprises.

Mini Fest Program & Schedule: 

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Cuentacuentos – “Storytelling”

With: Tina Casanova and José Rabelo (part of: Festival de la Palabra)

1:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Itinerant stations with diferent activities for kids. Including drawing, painting, creating you own puppet for the older ones. Creative and fun station for toddlers too. Open air activities and games.

  1. Story Workshop: Participants could create their own little story and their own book. Materials: Paper, pencils, crayons. With: Zuleyka Alejandro.
  2. Drawing and Painting Character Workshop: Kids will be able to draw or paint their characters this way helping them to develop the characters. Materiales: Paper, Paint, crayons, pencils. With: Juan Bautista
  3. Theatrical Games: Fun games for the kids to develop and act their characters. With: Zuleyka Alejandro
  4. Open air activities: Bubble making games and a variety of fun games and activities.
  5. Permanent Stations: Clay Sation, Printmaking Station, Games for toddlers.

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm

“Light Show”

Colorful Animals is a Light Show for kids! The story is an effort to learn about accepting each other with our differences. With: Zuleyka Alejandro, Juan Bautista, Daniela Fabrizi y Kevin Pérez.

Sponsored by: UnitedHealthcare ©
 

2016, Book Readings, Books, Caribbean, Education, Events, Festival, Partnerships, Past, Uncategorized

San Juan Noir

Posted on by Alejandro

San Juan Noir Anthology Launches Amidst Puerto Rican Debt Crisis

Eventbrite - San Juan Noir - Book Presentation & Discussion

San Juan Noir is an unprecedented volume of contemporary Puerto Rican fiction edited by renowned author Mayra Santos-Febres, creator of Puerto Rico’s Festival de la Palabra which its New York edition will be celebrated at Loisaida Inc. Center this same weekend.

She’ll be attending this special New York City launch, alongside anthology contributors Charlie Vázquez, Wilfredo Burgos Matos and Manuel Meléndez—as part of Festival de la Palabra. This will take place at the Loisaida Center on Friday, October 28th at 7:00p.m.

Publisher Akashic Books will be on-hand to sell both Spanish-language and English-language copies of this breakthrough volume of Puerto Rican crime fiction, which features writers from the island and the diaspora. The Loisaida Inc. Center is located at 710 E 9th Street, NY, NY 10009.

“Puerto Rico is often portrayed as sandy beaches, casinos, luxury hotels, relaxation, and never-ending pleasure,” Santos-Febres says. “But the financial downturn of 2008 hit us hard and as in many crises, art, music, and literature have also flourished. We have responded to our crisis with many stories to tell. In these times, many of those stories are noir.”

The fifteen stories compiled in San Juan Noir have been published in both Spanish and English editions and were written by Ernesto Quiñones, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, José Rabelo, Luis Negrón, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Janette Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Edmaris Carazo and Alejandro Álvarez Nieves. Come celebrate this historic moment…

Info: info@loisaida.org

Book cover:

sjn

2016, Bilingual, Book Readings, Books, Children Friendly, Education, Events, Family Activities, Festival, Latin America, Partners, Partnerships, Past, Poetry, Storytelling, Youth

The Word Festival at Loisaida Inc.

Posted on by Alejandro

Loisaida Inc. and Acacia Network together with Salón Literario Libroamérica, Instituto Cervantes, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña presents:

Festival de la Palabra (The Word Festival)

When?

Thursday, October 27th through Saturday, October 29th from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm (Thursday and Friday) and 12:00 pm – 10:00 pm (Saturday)

Where?

Loisaida Inc. – 710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009

OVERVIEW:

Festival de la Palabra (The Word Festival) is the top literary event in Puerto Rico, and the only literary festival in the world based on one single community -the Puerto Rican community- which is held in two very distinct cities: San Juan and New York, and for the first time celebrated at Loisaida Inc. in the heart of the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Over 15,000 visitors attend this international encounter of writers and readers, featuring 100 prestigious authors from Puerto Rico and 20 other countries in America, Europe and Africa, all sharing their common passion for literature.

Thursday, October 27th – 6:00 PM

Venue: LOISAIDA INC. CENTER – 710 EAST CALLE 9 LOWER EAST SIDE – 6:00 PM

“LOS DE AQUÍ Y LOS DE ALLÁ” 
PANELISTAS:
• Manolo Núñez Negrón
• Tere Dávila
• Bonafide Rojas
• Urayoán Noel

Venue: INSTITUTO CERVANTES – 211 EAST 49TH STREET – 7:30 PM 

“EUROPA-AMÉRICA LATINA: VIAJES A UTOPÍA”
PANELISTAS:
• Jesús Ferrero
• Marina Perezagua
• José Manuel Fajardo
• Raúl Aguiar
• Mayra Santos-Febres

Friday, October 28th – 7:30 PM

Venue: LOISAIDA INC. CENTER – 710 EAST CALLE 9 LOWER EAST SIDE – 7:30 PM
”SAN JUAN NOIR”  (RSVP here)
INAUGURACIÓN Y PRESENTACIÓN DE LIBRO CON:
• Johnny Temple
• Mayra Santos-Febres
• Charlie Vázquez
• Wilfredo Burgos Matos
• Manuel Méndez
• Tere Dávila

Saturday, October 29th – 12:00 – 10:00 PM

Venue: LOISAIDA INC. CENTER – 710 EAST CALLE 9 LOWER EAST SIDE
12:00 PM – 4:00 PM

“LOISAIDA’S MINI FEST” (RSVP here)

12:00 – 1:00 PM – CUENTACUENTOS (Storytelling)
CON:
• Tina Casanova
• José Rabelo

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – ESTACIONES ITINERANTES DE ACTIVIDADES CREATIVAS
CON:
• Zule Alejandro
• Daniela Fabrizi
• Juan Bautista

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM – ESPECTACULO DE LUCES
CON:
• i Luminate

Venue: LOISAIDA INC. CENTER – 710 EAST CALLE 9 LOWER EAST SIDE
4:00 PM – 9:00 PM

4:00 PM – “MEMORIA, LITERATURA Y COMUNIDAD”
PANELISTAS:
• Tina Casanova
• Charlie Vázquez
• José Rabelo
• Mariposa Fernández

4:30 PM – PROYECCIÓN DE DOCUMENTALES: “LUIS/LIZZA” Y “CLEMENTE SOTO VÉLEZ”
CON:
• Joelle González-Laguer
• Luis Felipe Díaz
• Alfredo Villanueva Collado

5:30 PM – “CARIBE: ARCHIPIÉLAGO DE SUEÑOS”
PANELISTAS:
• Raúl Aguiar
• Carlos Fonseca
• Manolo Núñez Negrón
• Mayra Santos-Febres

7:00 PM – PRESENTACIÓN DE LIBRO “YO SOY IRIS CHACÓN”
CON:
• Iris Chacón

8:00 PM – CIERRE POÉTICO

Sponsored by: Southwest Airlines © and the New York Public Library

2014, Bilingual, Book Readings, Events, Partners, Partnerships, Performance, Poetry

From The Bronx hasta Loisaida

Posted on by Alejandro

Saturday, November 1st, 2014

Visiones Culturales presents From The Bronx hasta Loisaida: A Word Exchange

A word exchange through poetry, film, music an a lively discussion on poetry as personal or collective activism.

@ The Loisaida Center  (710 East 9th Street, Lower East Side, NY 10009)

Presenting: Machete Movement and poets from the Full Circle Ensemble
Special Feature Presentation by Not4Prophet author of Last of the Po’ Ricans
We will also be screening the most recent version of the short documentary film: Wordmade
Directed by Fabian Caballero and produced by Yolanda L. Rodriguez  for Visiones Culturales

Also RSVP on the Visiones Culturales Facebook Event Page

Suggested donation $8.00

2014, Bilingual, Book Readings, Books, Children Friendly, Dance/Movement, Events, Family Activities, Festival, Film, Music, Partners, Performance, Plena, Puppetry, Screenings, Storytelling, Theater, Visual Art

El Mini Fest

Posted on by Alejandro

Un Pasadía Familiar

El Mini Fest – Family Day

at The Loisaida Center

 With The Wonderful Musical Duo:

¡ACOPLADITOS!

Day long activities for the entire family!

Beginning Saturday October 18th 2014 from 12 to 5 pm

 El Mini Fest Schedule of Activities:

12:00pm – 1:35pm

Open Yoga for the Family & Creative Movement for the Family

 with: Jeca Rodríguez and Sandralis Ginés

_

1:00pm – 3:00pm

Screening of: 

Pura Belpré:Storyteller

Documentary on loan by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College

 

Creative Stations will open at 1:00pm

1. Paper Puppet Creations with Rojo Coquí Robles (El Kibutz del deseo) (2hrs)

2. Upcycling Arts with Visiones Culturales

3. Bilingual Storytelling with Maestra Coral Nogueras Ortiz

 _

 2:00pm – 3:00pm

 Interactive Bomba Performance: with María Eugenia Rodriguez & TheLegendary Mic

 _

3:00pm – 4:00pm

Headliner Concert by:

¡Acopladitos! 

 Come join us! Purchase tickets below. Only $5 for one ticket or $15 for 4 tickets!