You can’t miss 2016 Artist in Residence: Florencia Escudero‘s last part of her residency at Loisaida Inc.
A final video screening and musical performance curated by Escudero and including artists; Richard Cho, Jake Davidson, Tiona McClodden, Brigid Moore, Cristina Tufiño, Zulu Padilla, Julian Chams, Tommy Kha, Jordie Oetken, Itzel Alejandra Martinez and Constanza Alarcón Tennen.
It all starts at 8:00 PM
Duration: 1.5hrs
Overview
English:
Project developed by students of public school Patria Latorre under the direction of Professor Vilma Serrano Vargas in the hometown of Oscar López Rivera : San Sebastian , Puerto Rico. the social commitment of Oscar López Rivera with the Puerto Rican youth and public education in the country of Puerto Rico continues to stand strong . Students use books as a means to describe their experiences around the figure of Oscar López Rivera and education. The artist Antonio Martorell , accompanies them at the end of this project emphasizing the importance of education , social participation as Puerto Ricans and a commitment to their country. Also the project will showcase an installation of 35 backpacks entitled “Cannon fodder.”
Visión
Spanish:
Proyecto desarrollado por estudiantes de la escuela pública Patria Latorre bajo la dirección de la Profesora Vilma Serrano Vargas en el pueblo natal de
Exhibition is open Monday through Saturday 10:00am – 5:00pm, by appointment only, please request access by contacting info@loisaida.org
Saturday, June 4th 2016, at The Loisaida Center
Description
Macha Colón, a character created by the multidisciplinary artist Gisela Rosario Ramos, will headline this event with a screening of the documentary film “El Hijo De Ruby”. Macha Colón y Los Okapi was in the line up of Loisaida Festival, and will perform at the New Museum on Thursday in conjunction with art work by resident Beatriz Santiago Muñoz. We are lucky to feature her in an intimate setting at the Loisaida Center along with one of the subjects of her film, Lionel Villahermoso, who will also perform.
This event is a run-up to a short film festival at the end of the month Comi/Cine which fuses culinary arts with film-making. In line with the themes of the Loisaida Festival, refreshments will be served.
The largest community pride event in Manhattan’s most historic neighborhood.
Sunday, May 29th 2016. Avenue C – The Lower East Side.
Since 1987 the Loisaida Festival has been celebrated the Sunday before Memorial Day weekend in the Manhattan neighborhood known as the Lower East Side, the East Village, or Loisaida. This event is the largest community pride festival in the neighborhood and grows annually in size, excitement, and impact. It is presented in the Avenue C commercial corridor-renamed Loisaida Avenue since 1989.
The Loisaida Festival includes diverse manifestations of the Puerto Rican and Latino cultures expressed through music, cuisine and arts. Although it began as a community event to celebrate the culture, heritage and accomplishments of Loisaida’s Puerto Rican/Hispanic community, the event has created a multi-cultural spirit where people from all races and backgrounds descend from all parts on the city into this historic and eclectic neighborhood.The Loisaida Festival has also created a platform for Loisaida’s Latino and, now growing, non-Latino neighborhood residents and families that come together on the day of the event to share and celebrate the Memorial Day Holiday as well as their social and cultural differences.
The program includes musical concerts, dance performances, folkloric musical presentations, and arts and crafts exhibitions that showcase the work of artisans that represent diverse ethnic groups and nationalities. It also serves as a vehicle to disseminate critical community information distributed by employees and volunteers of many local and city-wide health and human services organizations.The Loisaida Festival is sponsored by Loisaida Inc., the oldest Puerto Rican non-for-profit organization in the neighborhood.
Loisaida, Inc. was founded in 1979 to address the problem of social and economic disenfranchisement of poor, low income and working class residents of the Lower East Side. Over the years, Loisaida has provided comprehensive education, training and employment opportunities that have targeted young adults. It has also worked with local businesses in neighborhood economic development activities as a means to promote entrepreneurship and help create jobs for local residents.
The festival will become an even more significant Loisaida community event and venue as a signature citywide and tourist destination.
Event Objectives
Location
The closest stations are:
Transportation
Visitor’s Tips List
‘SENIOR DAY’
PROGRAMA
2 DE MAYO, 2016
12:00-12:30pm:
REGISTRO
12:30-1:30pm:
1ra Sesión de Talleres
-ETIQUETAS NUTRICIONALES (IPRO) – Teatro
-ZUMBA – Salón 1
1:30-2:30pm:
COFFEE BREAK
2:30-3:30pm:
2da Sesión de Talleres
-REIKI (sanación y energía) con Malín Falú -Teatro
-TAI CHÍ (ejercicio chino) – Salón 1
3:30-4:30pm:
BOHEMIA con Wally Ruíz – Teatro
Loisaida Inc. and Casa Múcaro presents:
Schedule: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm. Starting Monday, May 9th through Sunday, May 29th.
Overview:
Create puppets out of recycled and upcycled trash, waste and discarded found materials. Learn how to transform junk into beauty! Spin straw into gold! Art with an ecological, green twist. Create your own wondrous puppet or assist in larger collaborative group puppet project.
Making art with trash is one way of reusing everyday found objects and instead of seen as a nuance, if used right, it could become an object of beautification. The purpose behind this workshop is to create a group of community members, or volunteers, interested in working together to be part of a parade happening on the 25th of May and be part of a pageant, happening right after. As a way of bringing people together with under a similar motif, centered around the Loisaida community’s societal impact as pioneers of urban ecology creative innovation.
We’ll be making masks and big puppets, with “upcycled,” or reused materials and full body masks and costumes, made with reusable and recyclable materials. We’ll be reliving the lives of those that made this neighborhood alive, with those that are present today. Be part of this event and help us exalt the creativity of the Loisaida community towards an ecological mindset. Trash, or daily found objects, will be our best friend for this workshop, as they are a cost-effective material filled with endless applications.
Outcomes:
1. A new contingent will be added to the opening Carnival Procession (Parade) of the Loisaida Festival. An exuberant celebration of Caribbean solidarity, drawing inspiration from Afro-Caribbean mythological symbols, and the resilient creative spirit of looking backwards and forwards: a recognition of all the lives of those that made this neighborhood alive, with those that are present today. (Featuring the collaboration of: Braata Productions, Semi-Upright Cultural Workers Collective,and RMO)
2. Join our Giant Puppet making community workshop Low Tech, High Magic. Learn how to create masks! Parade costumes! Larger-than-life Puppets! Colourful parade floats!
3. Beyond the Parade, join the amazing outdoor street-theatre puppet-pageant that follows as part of the Theater Lab inside La Plaza Cultural! Be part of this homage to the legacy of Latino community builders from the Young Lords forward in celebration of all lives that make this neighborhood alive.
Workshop is led by Pablo Varona of CASA MUCARO.
Profile:
Casa Múcaro is a collaborative project on a forested mountaintop near Las Marias, Puerto Rico. We are multidisciplinary artists in pursuit of self-sufficiency for ourselves and others, through “the sharing of tools, materials, and know-how.” We envision “termitopia” cities, like termite mounds, in which by means of re-use, or recycling of materials, their citizens understand the benefits of self-managing “waste” generated by their neighborhood and can actively participate in the construction and maintenance of their own city.
Collaborative Practices: Casa Múcaro’s project will feature a collaboration of with Braata Productions, Semi-Upright Cultural Workers Collective, and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra (RMO) with the goal of joining the talents, resources and visions of multiple theater, music, arts and culture collectives working on projects related to the people and culture of Caribbean Islands living in NYC. It will produce a collection of different works to be presented at the 29th edition of Loisiada Festival and Braata Production’s Caribbean Folk Festival in Jamaica, Queens the following weekend.
Individual Bios:
Bill Birdsall is an artist refugee from Los Angels, with about 40 years of residence now in backwoods Puerto Rico. Bill went from airplanes to coffee farmers, learning survival skills along the way. He built his own home out of free, discarded fishnet and cement, using a technique he calls nylon-cement. Bill invents things and posts his inventions on Instructables.com under the name “Thinkenstein”. Search for his “nylon-cement”, PVC, and “tootophone” instructables there, among other things. See his website: http://thinkenstein.info for other things Bill do, like paintings, sculpture and music.
Pablo Varona or “Pablillo José, spends most his time living close to the forested mountaintops of Puerto Rico. At the time, he is a puppeteer, street performer and a supreme believer of juggling as his way through every corner he visits. He is amazed by the immeasurable value that the reuse, recycling and/or “forgotten” objects do when it comes to the transformation of urban contexts. His interests revolve around making these issues relevant and accessible to the general audience, with the hopes that some day we will all learn from its potential uses and collaborate in the creative process of experimenting with the most abundant material out there: Trash. To see more of his work, go to http://www.diminuto.info.
Daniel Polnau has created puppet parades, circuses, and outdoor theatre spectacles for over 30 years. He specializes in creating larger than life puppets out of recycled junk and up-cycled materials making the mundane become extraordinary. Projects and residencies have spanned the globe from Moscow to Bali to Juneau, Alaska to Puerto Rico. Highly collaborative, at the heart of each project he strives to demystify the creative process and quicken the innate creative abilities in all – regardless of age, abilities or arts experience. He is committed to respectfully embracing underserved and marginalized populations.
Loisaida Inc. is proud to present:
Marvel writer Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
Opening Saturday, May 28th 2015 from 1:00PM to 5:00PM.
Miranda-Rodriguez brings an exhibition of original artwork from his best-selling debut comic book Guardians of the Lower East Side from the anthology series Marvel’s Guardians of Infinity.
Join Edgardo for a book signing and art talk. Miranda-Rodriguez and his Marvel team will discuss comic book making and how traditional art techniques and digital technologies come together to create today’s comic world heroes. The art talk is part of El LOOP, Loisaida Inc.’s new fair for Latinos in Innovation.
*Exhibition dates are May 31st, 2016 through July 28th, 2016. Gallery is open to the public by appointment and for special tours Monday to Friday 12:00PM – 5:00PM.
Follow Edgardo on Twitter: @MrEdgardoNYC
This is a FREE 3 days/3 hour workshop – However, we ask for a donation of $50 to cover workshop material expenses. This donation for materials fee can be paid in person at beginning of workshop.
Who will benefit from this bootcamp:
Young adult entrepreneurs, between the ages of 25-40, who have a business idea or product idea. They don’t need to have design experience or a fully developed idea, as this bootcamp will give them the hands on tools to take an idea beyond concept to a product prototype or business prototype.
Dates & Time:
Workshop is led by Alejandro Excia of NEEUKO Inc.
MAIN GOAL:
Participants will create a product or business prototype from an initial idea using only analog tools (leave your computer at home), to measure whether an idea can become a solid product or business and push your idea beyond the conceptual stage.
Day 1
Friday, May 6th – Time: 6:00 – 9:00 PM
DESIGN THINKING & PROBLEM RECOGNITION
Apply design thinking techniques to a product or business idea. Using a combination of case studies and exercises, students will discover and narrow down the problems their product or business idea solves.
Day 2
Saturday, May 7th – Time: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
HOW TO TELL YOUR STORY
Formulate a unique product or business narrative using graphic information and storytelling. Students will construct a storyboard that will support them in turning their idea into a selling pitch or a product development opportunity.
Day 3
Sunday, May 8th – Time: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
OPPORTUNITY RECOGNITION
Assess whether a product or business idea have business potential. Students will acquire manual tools for time and project management, as well as techniques for developing a product or business that truly serve their consumers.
About Neeuko Inc.
NEEUKO@Sagrado is part of an innovative college ecosystem of the Sacred Heart University located in the heart of Santurce, Puerto Rico. In this space we promote an environment and the culture of open innovation and entrepreneurship, within a series of educational activities that may include lectures, interviews and book presentations. Neeuko encourages the community to bring their concept ideas and they will be guided through a process that it will enhance that idea into reality.
*Arrangements can be made if you cannot afford the materials fee, please contact The Loisaida Center or call (646) 755-0522 for more information. Space is limited.
Loisaida Inc. presents:
The Johnny Colón School of Music @ Loisaida Inc. Center
Music theory lessons for the younger set by the boogaloo music legend Johnny Colon. Divided into three groups ages; 8-10, 11-14 & 15-18. Bilingual friendly (Spanish, English)
Latin music legend and renown music teacher Johnny Colón revives the tradition of his famous uptown music school, now downtown at the Loisaida Center. An dynamic hands-on weekly series of ongoing music classes focused on Latin rhythms and sounds directly under the instruction of vocalist, multi-instrumenatlist, arranger and musical director Johnny Colón.
About Johnny Colón
Johnny Colón, was born in New York City to parents of Puerto Rican heritage. He is the director of the Johnny Colon Orchestra, founder of the legendary East Harlem Music School and widely recognized as a major and legendary contributor to the popular boogaloo sound of the 1960s.
Colón, a versatile vocalist, multi-instrumenatlist, arranger and musical director, became one of Latin music’s leading impresarios at the forefront of the new “Latin Boogaloo” sound when he formed the first Johnny Colon Orchestra in the mid 1960’s. He first found success in the world of salsa with his 1966 debut album”Boogaloo Blues” in 1966, which became a classic, selling over 3,000,000 copies worldwide, and which continues to be an anthem for this period on Latin music history. Colón’s hit “Boogaloo Blues” came out during a time of transition in the Latin music scene of New York years before there was such a thing as “salsa,” when the mambo craze was over and Puerto Ricans were coming of age in the city and the “Nuyorican” culture was emerging. As many of their peers went off to fight in Vietnam, some of New York’s younger Puerto Ricans were losing interest in Latin music and beginning to identify more with R&B hits in English than with the music of their roots. Johnny recorded several other notable tunes over the years, releasing five albums over the period 1967-72.
In 1968, with public funding and much of his own money, Colón founded the East Harlem Music School and offered free lessons to the community. His impact as a music instructor for more than three decades may be even greater than the effect of his recordings. Students like the singer Tito Nieves, percussionists Jimmy Delgado and Robin Loeb, bass player Rubén Rodríguez, and singer Marc Anthony would all go on to become stars in salsa and contemporary Latin music. By the mid-1990s, Colón was struggling to secure funding to maintain the school open. In 2004, unable to keep a permanent space for his school, Colón was given the opportunity to bring his brand of music education to New York City public schools. Today, as well as teaching in schools around the city, Colón has begun giving music classes to patients at drug treatment centers. He’s found a new location for his school at The Loisaida Inc. Center.
– Meet and Greet on Saturday, March 19 at Loisaida Inc. 710 East Ninth Street, New York, NY 10009
Stay tuned!
Loisaida Inc. presents:
Plenatorium Ensemble Workshops (Pandero, Güiro & Plena Dance)
Register today:
Package includes: 4 Sessions, 1 Final presentation – 1pm, Four Saturdays, One Friday March 5 – March 26, 2016. at Loisaida Inc. Center. Transgenerational (ages 15+), bilingual friendly (Spanish, English)
Workshop schedule as follows:
– Saturday, March 5th: Class 1
one (1) hour of pandero instruction (basic seguidor, punteador & requinto),
one (1) hour of güiro instruction (basic rhythm & technique)
and one (1) hour of plena ensemble.
– Saturday, March 12th: Class 2
one (1) hour of pandero accompaniment instruction (seguidor, punteador & requinto for ensemble),
one (1) hour of güiro accompaniment instruction (rhythm & technique for ensemble)
and one (1) hour of plena ensemble.
– Saturay, March 19th: Class 3
one (1) hour ensamble and
one (1) hour of basic plena dance instruction
– Friday, March 25th: Class 4
two (2) hours of ensamble and
two (2) hours of plena dance instruction
– Saturday, March 26th: FINAL
plena Dance/Social with live plena ensemble