Loisaida Inc.

Nativa Remedies
2017-02-11 16:00 - 18:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Nativa Remedies by Celeste Casillas:

FREE Community workshop on how to use traditional herbs in modern daily life and creating at home remedies influenced by elder and ancestral healing methods and the passing down of stories. Participants will make a salve to take home.

Future Now // Futura Ahora
2017-02-11 12:00 - 18:00, 2017-02-10 12:00 - 18:00, 2017-02-09 12:00 - 18:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Atomic Culture in collaboration with the Loisaida Inc. Center as part of the 2017 Art Residency Program at Loisaida. presents:

Future Now // Futura Ahora

Exhibition open from February 4 to March 18, 2017
Closing: March 18th, 2017 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Details:
Future Now // Futura Ahora calls to attention the movement of artists reclaiming and reconfiguring their cultural disposition and narratives with society at large. Through sound, installation, literature, and visual arts each artist presents compelling possibilities for the future by embracing and reclaiming their histories, traditions, and present-day experiences.
During Atomic Culture’s curatorial artist residency at the Loisaida Center. They will bringing together 15 artists native to the southwest United States, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California to discuss futurism and geopolitics. Futurism is not just about technology but an act of self preservation and concern toward the creation and dismemberment of invisible borders, pillaging of natural resources, and colonization. Through decolonization and reclamation of traditions, personal culture, land and natural medicine.
Within the exhibition and workshops each artist addresses these issues blending their complex histories with a contemporary perspective creating a new trajectory.
Future Now/Futura Ahora will host multiple workshops on reclaiming use of the land and the natural remedies she provides you, discussions and screenings on chicanx futurism. The exhibition serving as a catalyst to discuss and initiate thinking and being in a time of increased tension and unknown.
Artists:
Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0, Nani Chacon, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Ryan Dennison, Zeke Pena, Chico MacMurtrie, Claudia X. Valdes, Ruben Ortiz Torres, William Camargo, Rick Cortez, Lindsay Kane, Delilah Montoya, Cristobal Martinez, Scott Williams, Cultural Workers, and a SSSK Distro retrospective.

Walled Worlds
2017-02-09 17:00 - 20:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Walled Worlds: Border Publics, Cultural Activism and Urban Planning.
Panel: Thursday, February 9th at 6:00 pm.

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

Renowned scholars, artists, cultural activists and critics–Ricardo Dominguez, Teddy Cruz, Fonna Forman and Ed Morales–ccome together to discuss their distinct yet cross-cultural perspectives on the intersections of arts and culture, activism and policy, and forced migration and community building, utilizing examples of neighborhoods including the Lower East Side.

We will consider how might our cultural activism, advocacy, and participatory planning begin working to create stronger collaborative movements and build solidarity within and beyond our multiple communities? In the face of political uncertainties, we will also consider what tactics and strategies work to strengthen cultural equity advocacy, to influence policy and to advance equity principles as part of what should be enshrined in NYC’s cultural plan. A report-back on the discussion will be included as a set of recommendations to the New York City Council’s 10 year Cultural Plan.

Presented by: Atomic Culture & Loisaida Inc.

Future Now // Futura Ahora
2017-02-04 18:00 - 20:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Atomic Culture in collaboration with the Loisaida Inc. Center as part of the 2017 Art Residency Program at Loisaida. presents:

Future Now // Futura Ahora

Exhibition open from February 4 to March 18, 2017
Opening Reception: February 4th, 2017 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Details:
Future Now // Futura Ahora calls to attention the movement of artists reclaiming and reconfiguring their cultural disposition and narratives with society at large. Through sound, installation, literature, and visual arts each artist presents compelling possibilities for the future by embracing and reclaiming their histories, traditions, and present-day experiences.
During Atomic Culture’s curatorial artist residency at the Loisaida Center. They will bringing together 15 artists native to the southwest United States, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California to discuss futurism and geopolitics. Futurism is not just about technology but an act of self preservation and concern toward the creation and dismemberment of invisible borders, pillaging of natural resources, and colonization. Through decolonization and reclamation of traditions, personal culture, land and natural medicine.
Within the exhibition and workshops each artist addresses these issues blending their complex histories with a contemporary perspective creating a new trajectory.
Future Now/Futura Ahora will host multiple workshops on reclaiming use of the land and the natural remedies she provides you, discussions and screenings on chicanx futurism. The exhibition serving as a catalyst to discuss and initiate thinking and being in a time of increased tension and unknown.
Artists:
Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0, Nani Chacon, Gilbert “Magú” Luján, Ryan Dennison, Zeke Pena, Chico MacMurtrie, Claudia X. Valdes, Ruben Ortiz Torres, William Camargo, Rick Cortez, Lindsay Kane, Delilah Montoya, Cristobal Martinez, Scott Williams, Cultural Workers, and a SSSK Distro retrospective.

Ours to Lose: When Squatters Became Homeowners in New York City
2017-02-02 18:00 - 20:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Inc. and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation are proud to present:
Ours to Lose: When Squatters Became Homeowners in New York City

The Lower East Side in the 1980s and 90s was home to a radical squatting movement that
blended urban homesteading and European-style squatting in a way never before seen in the
United States.

Ours to Lose takes a close look at a diverse group of Lower East Side squatters who occupied abandoned city-owned buildings in the 1980s, fought to keep them for decades, and eventually began a long, complicated process to turn their illegal occupancy into legal cooperative ownership.

In this multimedia event Starecheski will use oral histories to explore the complicated
relationships between homesteading and squatting on the Lower East Side, and in American
history.

Amy Starecheski is co-director of the Oral History Master of Arts program at Columbia
University. She received a PhD in cultural anthropology from the CUNY Graduate Center, where
she was a Public Humanities Fellow. In 2016 she was awarded the “Will the Next Margaret
Mead Please Stand Up?” Prize for public anthropological writing.

The Loss of Cultural Facilities and Sanctuaries in the LES
2017-01-18 18:30 - 20:00 | NY
The issue of how vacant or underused community facilities have played a role on the dismantling and “de-culturalizing” economic dynamic of historical Latino Core Neighborhoods comes to the foreground as neighbors and community partners discuss the future of PS.64/ CHARAS El Bohio and the strategies to convert them into cultural resources that strengthen and fully represent the historical and diverse fabric of the Lower East Side.

Commissioner Lorelei Salas Wants to Hear from You
2017-01-17 15:00 - 17:00 | NY
Commissioner Lorelei Salas
Wants to Hear from You

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) is committed to protecting and enhancing
the daily economic lives of New Yorkers.

TIME: 3:00 p.m.
DATE: Tuesday, January 17, 2017
PLACE: The Loisaida Center 710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009
Your feedback is important to us, so please join us during DCA Commissioner Salas’ visit to share your stories.

For more information, visit: nyc.gov/dca
For all DCA events, visit nyc.gov/dca. Click “Media,” then “Events.”
Follow us on Twitter:
@NYCDCA

The Sustainable Artist Toolkit
2016-12-13 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
We are excited to host FABNYC’s next Sustainable Artist Toolkit workshop,
Artists with Radical Visions: Shifting, Challenging, Thriving!
Before we all break for the holidays, let’s refocus our energies towards realizing our self-determined liberated life. Engage in a strategic dialogue around needs and resources and learn to work together to define boundaries, affirm goals, and stand in our power.
Tuesday, December 13, 7-9pm right here at Loisaida Inc. Center!
RSVP: http://fabnyc.org/archive/artists-rad-visions/

Noche de Filin & Bohemia
2016-11-17 20:00 - 22:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Noche de Filin & Bohemia
Thursday, November 17th at 8:00 pm
Suggested donation of $10
710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009

The Loisaida Inc. Center will revive the romantic times with the oldies: Anibal Ayala and Alma Adentro will be presenting a classic repertoire from Silvia Rexach to El Topo. The evening will include a special tribute to the romantic music of our Quisqueya brothers and sisters. Presented as part of 2016 BORIMIX Festival.
Lite refreshments will be served.

Sponsored by: AgeWell Health Plans

2016 Bronx Latin American Art Biennial - Opening
2016-11-17 18:00 - 20:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
ARTISTS:
Antonio Tovar, Darío Fresco,
Ed Álvarez, Edwin Torres, Evelin Velásquez, Frank Guiller, Hillie Galarza, Ignacio Soltero, Jonás Hidalgo, Luis Carle, Ray Llanos, Rafael Carabano, Yelaine Rodríguez.
SPECIAL PERFORMANCE BY:
Carlos Rivera

Bronx Latin American Art Biennial’s Curators: Alexis Mendoza & Luis Stephenberg
OVERVIEW
I am one of those peoples that…
The 2016 edition of the Bronx Latin American Art Biennial under the title, “I am one of those people that…” will examine artworks referring to personal aspects of the creation process, what is in the mind of the artists sometimes is not what is reflecting on the work or the personal opinion; the personal philosophy. The curators and organizers of the 5th Bronx Latin American Art Biennial will focus the selection of the artworks more in the way artists think and what are the specifics behind the creating process. We encourage the artists to be very vocal about their work. Also, our intention is to have the opportunity to explore some of today’s local, national and international social issues such as: migration, women’s rights, political conflicts, different types of discrimination, and more important issues that reflect on the autonomy of the opinion. We are not seeking for every artwork to be a portrait or self-portraits, rather to be a self-representation of the artist’s way of thinking.
Sometimes art’s autonomy is proposed not as a genuine theoretical claim but as strategic one, where the suggestion is that only by claiming that art is indemnified by its very nature against moral culture can we prevent the forms of censorship that art is regularly subject to. But this strategic appeal to autonomy may purchase art’s freedom only at the cost of denying art’s power. I believe that a society that supports the arts supports the cultivation of minds that are able to pay attention, to think and notice what’s on artists’ minds become a habitual experience. Only then are there opportunities to reinforce the national culture. That will be the ultimate autonomy. Here we have drawn unlikely under current conditions, opinion, proposing instead a problematization of the same to the extent that we would no longer or with a referential field or with the discursive strategies capable of taking charge of the experience under the dissolutive operations that ideology, while constituting each of the moments of the object, has practiced on the disciplines and techniques that seek to address it.

War in the Neighborhood: Gentrification and Graphic Art
2016-11-15 06:30 - 20:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
War in the Neighborhood: Gentrification and Graphic Art
with Seth Tobocman
Music by Eric Blitz, Andy Laties and Joe Merolla.

Tuesday, November 15th, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Published in 1999, Seth Tobocman’s War in the Neighborhood remains one of the most relevant graphic novels exploring housing and community issues. Called a “masterpiece of gentrification” and “the comic book version of Rent,” War in the Neighborhood is a riveting first-hand account of radical neighborhood transformations in late 80’s and early 90’s New York.

With nuance and candor, Tobocman tells the tales of courageous communities built from rubble while exploring the moral complexities inherent in any movement, and the struggles against displacement that continue in varied forms today.

To coincide with the republishing of this classic novel by Ad Asta Comix, Tobocman will lead an illustrated discussion of his experiences, his art, and how the two intersect.
Seth Tobocman co- founded the magazine World War 3 Illustrated and is the author of many graphic books including his latest, Len, A Lawyer in History, about civil rights attorney Leonard Weinglass. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, the Village Voice, The Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, posters, banners, murals, patches and tattoos by people’s movements all over the world.
This event is co-sponsored with GVSHP.

Free.
Reservations required.
Please reserve here.

PS 122’S LONG TABLE SERIES
2016-11-07 18:30 - 20:30 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
PS 122’S LONG TABLE SERIES – LOISAIDA

Cultural Equity

Monday, November 7th – 6:30pm
at The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street and Avenue C
In partnership with Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) and Performance Space 122
FREE; RSVP Recommended
As diversity initiatives gain in popularity, how can we ensure that equity is at the root of their focus? Together, let’s explore the landscape and ask what is needed for tangible, real success around race, gender, disability status, and artistic aesthetic in the arts and beyond.

For more information about PS122’s Long Table series and upcoming discussions: ps122.org/long-table

Loisaida's Mini Fest
2016-10-29 12:00 - 16:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
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.

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.

Story Workshop: Participants could create their own little story and their own book. Materials: Paper, pencils, crayons. With: Zuleyka Alejandro.
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
Theatrical Games: Fun games for the kids to develop and act their characters. With: Zuleyka Alejandro
Open air activities: Bubble making games and a variety of fun games and activities.
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.

San Juan Noir
2016-10-28 19:30 - 21:30 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
San Juan Noir Anthology Launches Amidst Puerto Rican Debt Crisis

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:

"De Aqui y De Allá" by Adrián Viajero Román
2016-10-28 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Viajero's installation process at Loisaida Inc.

“De Aquí y De Allá”
By Adrián Viajero Román
Oct 19th – Nov 18th
Opening Reception: Oct 28 at 7:30pm
The EXODUS series explores the Puerto Rican experience of migration, past and present. Focused on towns and municipalities that are encountering a rapid decrease in population, causing separation of families, homes to be abandoned, and businesses to be closed down. Today’s crisis of the poor economy, high taxes, drugs and violence, and a decrease in agriculture that was once a thriving industry for Puerto Rico’s economy has contributed to an estimated over 300,000 people leaving the island in the past 10 years, with 144,000 of them leaving in the last 4 years, and 64,000 leaving in 2014 alone.

Adrian blocks some traffic on Broadway to show people what Puerto Rico looks like. (Wood house siding cut out in the shape of Puerto Rico, the black outlines are the shapes of the municipalities with the highest population of Puerto Ricans that have left their homes).

This is a portion of Viajero's installation on display at LOISAIDA Center which will become a permanent installation on display at the NYC Facebook office headquarters. #LOISAIDACenter #exodus #crisisisland #DefendPR

2016 The Word Festival at Loisaida Inc.
2016-10-27 19:00 - 2016-10-29 17:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
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.
More details coming soon.

HALLOWEEN COSTUME MAKING WORKSHOP
2016-10-27 03:00 - 18:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
HALLOWEEN COSTUME MAKING WORKSHOP
WITH: Marta Rosario
WHERE: Loisaida Inc. Center – 710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009
DATES: October 25th, 27th from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm and Saturday, October 29th from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
For more information: Zule Alejandro
FREE

HALLOWEEN COSTUME MAKING WORKSHOP
2016-10-25 03:00 - 18:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
HALLOWEEN COSTUME MAKING WORKSHOP
WITH: Marta Rosario
WHERE: Loisaida Inc. Center – 710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009/b>
DATES: October 25th, 27th from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm and Saturday, October 29th from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm/b>
For more information: Zule Alejandro
FREE

Folclor de Puerto Rico - Memoria e Identidad
2016-10-22 14:00 - 17:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Folclor de Puerto Rico: memoria e identidad
Idioma: Español
Fecha: Sábado, 22 de octubre de 2016
Horario: 2:00 pm a 5:00 pm
Recurso: Profesor Néstor Murray-Irizarry
Profesor universitario de Historia retirado. En 1976 fundó el Centro de Investigaciones Folclóricas de Puerto Rico, Inc. con sede en la Casa Paoli en Ponce, Puerto Rico. Investigador y estudioso de nuestra cultura durante más de 50 años. Tiene publicado más de 15 libros sobre diversos temas de nuestra cultura nacional. Fundó la Revista Miradero en papel (hoy virtual www.miradero.org). Ha editado más de 50 libros, revistas, DVD, CD. Es pionero en en el estudio del muralismo en Puerto Rico lo que le ha merecido varios premios. A sus 70 años continua trabajando en beneficio de nuestro acervo cultural.
Para más información: nmirizarry@gmail.com
Entrada gratis

BRAINLINGO - CLASS 4
2016-10-13 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Inc. presents:
BRAINLINGO – A poetry workshop for the body and mind.
With: Edwin Torres
Thursdays, September 15th, 22nd, 29th & October 13thfrom 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009
(Joining Edwin on Sept. 22 will be guest artist Will Power, Doris Duke Foundation Resident Artist at New York Theater Workshop)

OVERVIEW:
A Poetry Workshop For The Body And Mind — is a creative laboratory combining elements of theater, collage, and movement structured around language. Participants will explore the performative edges that embody transition as rich tools for transformative work. By cultivating an awareness between the disciplines of body language and archetypes of imagination, the tri-lingual voice, the speaking-seeing-hearing voice, will be nurtured. The four weeks are oriented around opening the sensory awareness necessary for artistic expression.
The workshop is structured sequentially for maximum effect, however each class can be taken individually to fit your schedule. Please enroll by linking online.

September 15th – CLASS 1: GROUND
Poets are creatures grounded in awareness. To establish that ground, we need to see what happens to awareness as it transitions. We activate that trigger by presenting two immersive exercises built to represent the evolution of the creative process as a microcosm of the writer’s experience. The writing that emerges is then shared and a discussion follows, utilizing the newly-charged creative space. This becomes groundwork for transition to become a resource in the creative process.

September 22nd – CLASS 2: BALANCE (with guest artist Will Power)
In this class, we’re lucky to be joined by award-winning playwright and performer Will Power. To nurture creativity is to spark the imagination, to see the world from many viewpoints, to cultivate where balance lies, literally, from one foot to the other. Using alignment to explore movement in theater and performance, we’ll integrate exercises from The Alexander Technique that explore the spine’s relationship to language, and how support is integral to creativity. We’ll then explore improvisation in dialogue on stage and in action by creating brief performances in group settings. Between Will Power and Edwin Torres, an immersive narrative among a range of genres will create an intoxicating blend of creative inspiration for the class to journey by.

September 29th – CLASS 3: SIGHT
Our volume, our mass, the weight of our perception is defined by the movement we attach to it. This week, we’ll take what we explored with Will Power the previous week and interpret music as movement, words as sound, interconnecting the accumulation of classes as possibilities for interpretation. The students will be taking their places with each other to create movement plays, based on word exercises reducing writing into vowels and consonants. Our movements are mapped into choreo-poems, as concrete poetry and collage are explored and assigned, creating new pathways into the visual senses.

October 13th – CLASS 4: VOICE (Please note that the first Thursday in October, Oct. 6th, will be skipped)
To communicate what’s being listening to requires an understanding of border with intention, defined as “voice.” This final class explores the Japanese dance Butoh – which explores energy slowly traveling through the dancer’s body. Butoh will be used to translate the voices within, to interpret listening to unknown voices into action. Mantra and repetition will be used to generate new writing out of trance states, further opening the possibilities of sensory awareness. Collaged pieces will be adapted into new texts, creating a performance of collected works to be presented at The Loisaida Center at a later date in November.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Edwin Torres came to poetry as a graphic designer in New York City, becoming a self-proclaimed “lingualisualist,” fluent in the languages of sight and sound. The iconic diversity of the East Village during the 90’s, along with the combined forces of Dixon Place, The Nuyorican Poets Café, and The St. Marks Poetry Project, shaped his multi-disciplinary approach to language. He was a member of the poetry collective “Nuyorican Poets Café Live” that helped revitalize Spoken Word, performing and giving workshops worldwide. He is the author of eight books of poetry, including Ameriscopia (University of Arizona Press 2014), Yes Thing No Thing (Roof Books 2010), In The Function Of External Circumstances (Nightboat Books 2009) and The PoPedology of An Ambient Language (Atelos Books 2008). He’s received fellowships from the DIA Foundation, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Foundation For Contemporary Performing Arts, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and The Poetry Fund among others.
In 2016, he judged the Andre Montoya Poetry Prize at the University of Note Dame, performed his solo show “Mi Voca Su Voca” at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, is part of a 2-year artist’s residency entitled Open Studios at The Drawing Center in New York City, and received a residency fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Creative Writing Program for the upcoming semester. His visual poetics have been exhibited at Exit Art, EFA Gallery in NYC, and a graphic retrospective “Poesís: The Visual Language of Edwin Torres” at The Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, Il. His CD “Holy Kid” (Kill Rock Stars Records) was part of the Whitney Museum’s exhibit “The American Century Part II.” Anthologies include, American Poets in the 21st Century: Vol. 2 (Wesleyan University), Angels Of The Americlypse: An Anthology of New Latin@ Writing (Counterpath Press), Post-Modern American Poetry Vol. 2 (Norton), Best American Poetry (Penguin), Kindergarde: Avant Garde Poems and Plays for Children (Black Radish Books), and Aloud: Voices from The Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Holt).
Will Power is an award-winning playwright and performer. Plays include “Stagger Lee” (Dallas Theater Center), “Fetch Clay, Make Man”(New York Theater Workshop, Marin Theatre Company, Roundhouse Theatre, True Colors Theater), “Steel Hammer” with SITI Company (Humana Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music), “The Seven” (Lucille Lortel Award Best Musical, New York Theater Workshop, La Jolla Playhouse, Ten Thousand Things Theater Company), Five Fingers of Funk! (Children’s Theatre Company), Honey Bo and The Goldmine (La Jolla Playhouse) and two internationally acclaimed solo shows “The Gathering,” and “Flow.”
In addition to being the Doris Duke Foundation Resident Artist at New York Theater Workshop, Power is also on the faculty at The Meadows School of the Arts/SMU, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence with the Dallas Theatre Center

BRAINLINGO - CLASS 3
2016-09-29 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States

BRAINLINGO - CLASS 2
2016-09-22 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Inc. presents:
BRAINLINGO – A poetry workshop for the body and mind.
With: Edwin Torres
Thursdays, September 15th, 22nd, 29th & October 6thfrom 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009

OVERVIEW:
Writing The Voice Of The Body Combining elements of theater, language, collage, and movement, participants will explore the performative edges that embody transition as rich tools for transformative work. By cultivating awareness between artistic disciplines of body, language and archetypes of imagination, a sense of the tri-lingual voice, the speaking-seeing-hearing voice, will be nurtured. The four weeks are oriented around opening the sensory awareness necessary for artistic expression.
Each class begins with warm-up exercises where the participants utilize their physical space into that week’s theme, embodying the environment to explore the journey about to unfold.

CLASS 1: GROUND
Poets are creatures of awareness. To build awareness, we need to see what happens to awareness as it transitions. We activate that trigger by presenting two immersive exercises around the theme of process. The Dream Exercise is constructed over four phases; 1) A dream is told to the group. 2) A story is consisting of two or three combined dreams is acted out without words while the rest of the group transcribes what they imagine is being told. 3) The entire group recites their story simultaneously while walking, at one point their writing is taken from them and they must continue speaking while music is played. 4) The words “STOP-WRITE” are yelled, signaling a transition to use magic markers and large-sized newsprint scattered on the floor to write what’s been building inside or to allow yourself tangents into newly inspired thoughts.
This exercise is built to represent the evolution of the creative process as a microcosm of the writer’s experience. Beginning with a simple story and following through to its transition over time amidst a changing landscape. Within the classroom, the outside world is portrayed with sound and movement. The writing that emerges is then heard by everyone and a discussion follows on the experience and to utilize a charged creative space. This becomes groundwork for all the exercises that follow.
We will also do an Animal exercise where the participants are asked to move about the room and eventually asked to transform into three animals; a favorite, its opposite and a fantasy creature. Once embodied, the animals develop their personality. We then return to our seats and begin writing a short play with these three characters. The writing is then taken home to finish for the next week. Which is where we not only see how other people act out your writing, we also discuss id and ego as portrayed by their animals. We then deconstruct the plays into a ten-line poem replacing each mention of an animal with the worlds “I”.
Again, the creative process is at the root of this exercise as we eventually allow the ability for transition to become part of everything we experience in the workshop.

CLASS 2: BALANCE
To nurture creativity is to understand what sparks the imagination. To see the world you’re in from many viewpoints, and where our balance lies, literally, from one foot to the other, using improvisation, dance.
We’ll use alignment exercise to explore our movements, the shapes we make with our bodies as beginnings of text. We’ll have Sensory Word Blocks as props to walk around while integrating Alexander Techniques’ movements to understand our spines and how support is integral to creativity. From an active awareness of the space being used, we’ll explore improvisation and how to create short 3-minute performances with a team of 2-4 people. This will lead to the Animal Plays, which will splinter into breathing exercises which will transition into sound exercises.
The concept of sound as creativity will be introduced here, using sound poetry we’ll explore dialogue and language as action. We transition from this to actual performance work, how the poem is performed, how to use our newly-charged body at the microphone, on stage, etc. A homework exercise is given to create 10 postcards out of your animal plays and/or dream poems. Each postcard will have an image on one side and a word on the other.

CLASS 3: SIGHT
“The sensuous breathing body is a dynamic, ever unfolding from, more a process than a fixed or unchanging object.” David Abram. Our volume, our mass, the weight of our perception is defined by the movement we attached to it. This week, we intercept music as sound, words as movement. We interconnect the accumulation of classes, as an ability to interpret.
The students will be taking their places with each other to create movement plays, based on word exercises which break up their writing into vowels and consonants.
The room then gets mapped out on paper and then redrawn once the walk gets recorded, so the action of capturing your movement is transitioned by poetry into a choreo-poem. Concrete poetry and collage is then displayed and the postcards are placed on the floor into combinations that create new pathways. New writing is created as inspired by this new journey. At this point in the workshop, the students are encouraged to allow imagination to take them where they need to go. The raw writing emerging during these sessions is what will be worked on afterwards. The assignment is to create a visual poem using the page as canvas, as well as to draw a choreographed performance of the piece.

CLASS 4: VOICE
To communicate what you listen to , requires an intersection of time and space. A geographic invention of border and intention defined as “voice.” This final class takes the exercises that have built up to this point, and digs deeper into the sensory by exploring the Japanese dance Butoh – which explores energy slowly traveling through the dancer’s body. In the workshop, Butoh will be used to translate metaphor into action, meaning into definition, person to geography. Mantra and repetition will be used to generate new writing out of a trance state, further opening the possibilities of sensory awareness.
We will look at the visual poem assignment and performance, which transitions into a conducting exercise using orchestra conduction signals to conduct a vocal improvisation. This exercise uses a student’s existing text as a score to follow according to the conductor’s hand signals, making a live audio-collaged piece out of existing texts.
The class will then have an ending discussion, covering the 4 weeks and how to maintain newly-awakened states of awareness. Throughout the course, there will be a range of poetry screened or broadcast to support the markers along the way.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Edwin Torres was born in New York City and came to poetry as a graphic designer in New York City’s East Village in the early 90’s. The iconic diversity of that neighborhood, along with the combined forces of Dixon Place, The Nuyorican Poets Café, and The St. Marks Poetry Project, shaped his multi-disciplinary approach to language. He was a member of the poetry collective “Nuyorican Poets Café Live” that helped revitalize Spoken Word in the early 90’s, performing and giving workshops worldwide. He has conducted improvisations between poets and musicians, adorned envelope pants while wearing a brain of soil, and lectured on the agency of edge as a premise for trigger. He is the author of eight books of poetry, including Ameriscopia (University of Arizona Press 2014), Yes Thing No Thing (Roof Books 2010), In The Function Of External Circumstances (Nightboat Books 2009) and The PoPedology of An Ambient Language (Atelos Books 2008). He’s received fellowships from the DIA Foundation, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Foundation For Contemporary Performing Arts, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and The Poetry Fund among others. In 2016, he has been awarded a 2-year artist’s residency at The Drawing Center in New York City, he’s received a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Creative Writing Program for the upcoming semester, and he’ll also be judge for the Andre Montoya Poetry Prize at the University of Note Dame. His visual poetics have been exhibited at Exit Art, EFA Gallery in NYC, and a graphic retrospective “Poesís: The Visual Language of Edwin Torres” at The Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, Il. His CD “Holy Kid” (Kill Rock Stars Records) was part of the Whitney Museum’s exhibit “The American Century Part II.” Anthologies include, American Poets in the 21st Century: Vol. 2 (Wesleyan University), Angels Of The Americlypse: An Anthology of New Latin@ Writing (Counterpath Press), Post-Modern American Poetry Vol. 2 (Norton), Best American Poetry (Penguin), Kindergarde: Avant Garde Poems and Plays for Children (Black Radish Books), and Aloud: Voices from The Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Holt). Edwin has a dual career as a graphic designer, working in the field of advertising and design for over 25 years, becoming a self-proclaimed “lingualisualist,” fluent in the languages of both sight and sound.

Tale of Four Schools
2016-09-22 18:30 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Architect CBJ Snyder was a prolific designer of New York public school buildings, completing more than 350 schools in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A graduate of Cooper Union, Snyder had big ideas about design, too – he believed that public school buildings should be civic monuments to a better, brighter future. Snyder’s innovative buildings included progressive solutions for light, air, fireproofing, and classroom size. How can we better care for our community resources facilitate adaptive reuse, and what can we still learn from Snyder’s century-old philosophies? Professor Jean Arrington, who has researched Snyder’s work and legacy in New York, will share her insights and Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council, will moderate a discussion with stakeholders of four Snyder projects – a demolished Bronx landmark, two former Harlem schools aiming to serve as community anchors, and an East Village building with an uncertain future.
Co-sponsored by Loisada, Inc., the Historic Districts Council, East Village Community Coalition and Lower East Side Preservation Initiative.

BRAINLINGO - CLASS 1
2016-09-15 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States

Senior Day - September
2016-09-07 12:00 - 17:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
‘SENIOR DAY’
PROGRAMA
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

TV Pilot Workshop (Day 4)
2016-07-30 11:00 - 14:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Inc. presents:
TV Pilot Workshop

Dates: July 9, 16, 23, 30
Time: 11:00am-2:00pm
Register: here.
Location: 710 East Ninth Street New York NY 10009

Workshop provided by WEPA (Workshops, Entertainment and Professional Artists) Composed of three young Latino leaders in which are Arilyn I. Martinez Cora, Andres Lopez and Anoushka Medina. Their objective is to create expand and develop the visual arts within the community of Loisaida.

Overview:
In this workshop we will teach participants how to make a TV pilot for television and all the internet platforms. The components of the workshop are:
• Acting
• Writing
• Directing
• Production
• The use of the camera and sound gear
• Also a general class about wardrobe, make up and set-design
Acting
In this workshop we will touch the theory and practice of acting for camera. We start with the origin and development of acting. In the workshop the community will be able to experiment and develop acting skills.
• The principal idea is to educate through acting games and developing the ability of acting for a scripted show.
• Example: Alert, Concentration and teamwork.
In this game the class will gain confidence and let go their insecurities in the space as a group.
Writing
In this workshop we will teach and explain the parts of the script. The first setup is where we describe the characters life, how characters relate to each other and what specific event changes the life of the character. The second step is to develop the obstacle of this story. The third is to resolve, which we will cover the moral of the story. The scripted final of the pilot will be a collaboration of the group of the class adapting everyone’s stories.
Directing
In this workshop we will be teaching the necessaries skills to direct actors for camera. Understanding the motivation and obstacle of why the actors should move in the space through the story.
• One of the exercises will be using the stories of the community and see it come to life through improvisation.
Camera & Sound
The use of the camera and sound gear HANDS ON. In this workshop we will teach the mechanics of the camera, basic lighting and what it is a good composition for the story on camera. In terms of sound we will teach how to position the microphone and how to use the sound recorder.
Production
This final workshop creates a plan to shoot the story. We will teach how to breakdown the script, planning a production timeline, and how to organize the departments (cast, crew, equipment, locations).
• Briefly, we will go over wardrobe, makeup and set-design; explaining with the importance of this department with videos and pictures.

Garbagia Island - Summer Program Open Studio (Week 3)
2016-07-26 13:00 - 2016-07-30 17:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida’s First Summer Program 2016: Garbagia Island
July 11th, 2016 – July 30th, 2016 – 10:00am to 5:00pm
at The Loisaida Inc. Center

Open Studio

July 11th to July 30th, 2016 – 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Location: Loisaida Inc.
For more info please contact: Zule Alejandro: (787) 636-4413 or Daniela Fabrizi: (347) 314-3555
Audience: Everyone
Workshop: Create your own costume and much more!
Description:
Become part of Loisaida Inc. Center First Summer Program. Learn how to create fashion, masks and costumes with recycled materials. Be in our pirate fashion show! Learn about historical figures and eco-urban pioneers of Loisaida

Garbagia Island Summer Program Overview:
The Summer Program will be composed of a two-week intensive open workshop accessible for the public. There will be five directed workshops for Summer Camps or School groups. Screening projections and other audiovisual material for educational purposes about the history and important people of the Loisaida (Lower East Side) Community. Then we will have the final activity open for the public were we will show a pirate fashion and creatures made out of recycled materials. It will all end with a symbolic peregrination to the Carmen Pabón garden.
Pedagogical benefits:
Participants will have a political approach to the history of LES by active participation. This will be directed with a pedagogical perspective into recreating what important people did for the neighborhood. This will create awareness into reusing waste and reconstructing its concept into resource. Also pointing out the use of communal spaces for the benefit of the community. We will like to empower the people to be active in their communities. The art workshops are beneficial for the mental health, motor skills and development of the participants. Using creativity with political consciousness to create more initiative and active people in the community.

GUARDIANS OF LOISAIDA (CLOSING)
2016-07-24 19:00 - 21:00 | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
GUARDIANS OF LOISAIDA – CLOSING RECEPTION
710 East 9th Street New York NY 10009 (District X – Loisaida)
7:00 pm
