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"Pete and Rose" 2020. Photo courtesy of: Melvin Audaz (2019-2020 Loisaida Artist in Residence)
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Wednesday, August 19th 2020
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Dear Friend,
We are proud of the work we've accomplished over the past year, as we continue to overcome challenges as a direct consequence of the global health crisis and economic recession. In this newsletter, we offer a comprehensive summary of the projects and initiatives we have embarked on during 2020. Please read on!
Loisaida Inc. Arts & Culture Center reopened in 2014 with the vital mission to uplift our Puerto Rican and Latinx community's sense of pride and highlighting our history of innovators, activists, thinkers and tinkers. Together, we have continued to celebrate our community's resilient spirit and our collective ethos of inclusion through innovation, while expanding the role of culture in the place-keeping of our distinct character.
It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color, ravaging our health, livelihoods, economic stability, and social-emotional well-being. It has also crippled the arts & culture sector, particularly small arts organizations that already face a bleak socio-economic landscape.
At Loisaida, Inc. we were forced to close our public spaces and the Center's Tech Lab programs, workshops and the significant activities and community events that traditionally have led up to our Loisaida Festival, our iconic cornerstone annual event for over 30 years. Despite these obstacles, we stand by our belief that arts & culture are important vehicles to promote social justice, so we have ensured continued programming through our available virtual channels.
In addition, we'd like to invite you to tune in to our weekly Loisaida TV programming, currently streaming on Wednesdays at 7:00PM through our YouTube Channel. Keep an eye out for the launch of the LOISAIDATV 24/7 live stream, featuring programming in Spanish language, thanks to our partnership with the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña or ICP), the primary government agency in Puerto Rico in charge of establishing cultural public policies that further the study, preservation, promotion, and enrichment of arts & culture in Puerto Rico, as well as the Puerto Rico Musical Arts Corporation (Corporación de Artes Musicales, CAM), a Puerto Rican government entity that seeks to promote music and theater arts, encompassing the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra Corporation.
We are also excited to invite families to apply for scholarships to participate in the Centinela Program, in partnership with the Puerto Rican theater collective Y No Había Luz. This program offers a unique online experience that combines craft arts, education, environmental awareness, and social interaction through an immersive experience for Spanish-speaking children and their families. Each scholarship includes access to a week-long live virtual workshop, an original book, a program certificate of completion, and a membership to the Centinela Club.
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Screenshot of recent virtual arts workshop, in partnership with ANH shelters. Artist: Carlos Jesus Martinez-Dominguez
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Last but not least, we are thrilled to announce that, for the upcoming fiscal year 2021, Loisaida has secured funding from the New York Community Trust COVID19 Response and Impact Fund, as well as the MOSAIC Fund, the Ford Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with the City Council, the Hispanic Federation, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, and Council Member Carlina Rivera.
As a nonprofit cultural community center in the heart of the Lower East Side, we are committed to providing year-round access to programming at no cost or at highly subsidized rates for our communities, and to providing space and opportunities for Latinx creatives and makers. At this time of extreme uncertainty for workers in the arts, we are proud to have preserved 100% of our workforce during the pandemic, and to continue serving as a source of employment for diverse cultural workers and artists.
Let us, together, continue protecting the legacy, contributions, and vibrancy of the multi-generational and multi-disciplinary cultural workers and residents that help explore, celebrate and organize our community.
Agradecido,
Alejandro E. Torres
Director and Chief Curator
Loisaida Inc. Arts & Culture Center
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Apply Today: Centinela Program Scholarships
¡Talleres En Español!
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Centinela Program, provided by Puerto Rican theater group Y No Había Luz.
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Loisaida Inc. is excited to provide Spanish-speaking families in our community with the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to participate in the Centinela Program, a unique virtual program that combines arts, education, environmental awareness, and social interaction through an immersive experience for children between the ages of 5-10 years old.
During the program, participating students and their families are engaged through daily virtual workshops and activities, culminating in a virtual awards ceremony where participants receive their Certificates. Prior to the beginning of the program, participants will receive the necessary materials to complete the curriculum.
The program is produced by Y No Había Luz, a theatre group based in Puerto Rico focused on promoting Puerto Rican culture through arts education. Founded in 2005, they offer workshops, original theatre performances, and other cultural activities to the community.
For more information or to apply, please contact us at 646-726-4715 or [email protected].
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Loisaida Inc., en alianza con la compañía de teatro Y No Había Luz, se complace en brindarles a todas nuestras familias de habla hispana de Loisaida la oportunidad de solicitar una beca para participar en el Programa Centinela, un programa virtual único que combina las artes, la educación, la conciencia ambiental y la interacción social a través de una experiencia inmersiva para niños entre las edades de 5 a 10 años.
Durante el programa, los estudiantes y sus familias disfrutarán de talleres y actividades virtuales diarios, culminando en una ceremonia virtual de premios donde los participantes recibirán sus Certificados. Antes del inicio del programa, los participantes becados recibirán todos los materiales necesarios para completar las actividades y formar parte del Club Centinela.
El programa es producido virtualmente desde Puerto Rico por Y No Había Luz, un grupo de teatro que busca promover la cultura puertorriqueña a través de la educación artística y la preservación del ambiente. Fundada en 2005, ofrecen talleres, presentaciones teatrales originales para niños y adultos, entre otros proyectos.
Para obtener más información o para solicitar, comuníquese con nosotros al 646-726-4715 o [email protected]
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Online Arts & Culture Program
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Image from FY19 ANH Final Report: workshop participants (Daren and his brother), who also took part in virtual sessions.
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In March 2020, Loisaida Inc. began the second consecutive year of its Arts and Culture Program in collaboration with Acacia Network Housing (ANH). Originally intended as on-site programming, the ANH/Loisaida Arts and Culture program worked with seven (7) visual artists to conduct arts and crafts workshops for children, families, and single adults at various homeless shelters across New York City.
After homeless shelters across the City cancelled all community activities due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Loisaida Center ensured the continuity of services by moving its arts workshops to the virtual realm, thus creating a series of virtual sessions that are available to be streamed anytime. Loisaida Inc. and ANH partners took into account the measures adopted by the New York Department of Education (DOE). By doing so, we hoped that the virtual arts classes would be more accessible to children attending the NYC public school system.
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Meanwhile, sessions for single adults shelters were conducted through Loisaida's open source system, meet.loisaidalab.org, a privately-owned, secure platform created in Loisaida's Tech and Media component, the Semillero.
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Loisaida Inc. staff member, Paloma L. Obergh Santos, conducts virtual classes using the NewTek TriCaster Broadcast.
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In terms of software, the Loisaida Center team streamed the live broadcast sessions from our new Tech & Media Center, El Semillero, through the NewTek TriCaster Broadcast, an all-in-one portable live production facility that allows you to deliver a television style production from anywhere to anywhere. This device was introduced and acquired by Loisaida Center with the intention of preparing and providing workshops to Lower East Side residents.
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From April 20th-July 24th, the ANH/Loisaida Virtual Arts and Culture program streamed 52 sessions, which received a total of 550 views. All sessions are available via a secure YouTube unlisted playlist, accessible through unique links that were distributed to center coordinators.
Over time, the Loisaida production staff and teaching artists grew more comfortable with the new digital format, allowing them to conduct more interactive classes that worked along with each instructor's particular teaching style. Teaching artists started taking advantage of features like the double-camera, presenting Power Point presentations, and using reference images and videos as supporting material to conduct classes.
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In addition to conducting virtual sessions for children, families, and adults, the Loisaida Team created a directory of private sessions that participants could access at any time and at their own discretion. The playlist includes a diverse selection of classes that focus on various mediums, such as drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, crafts, and art history among others. We are proud of the programming that we were able to produce over the past months, and look forward to our continuing relationship with Acacia Network Housing.
Thanks to the children, families, and adults who participated, and to our teaching artists and amazing staff for their talents and dedication!
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Colectivo Te Cuento: Census Outreach Team
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With a catchy opening that features the beautiful Lower East Side (Loisaida) neighborhood, Colectivo Te Cuento is a short comedy web-series created by Loisaida Inc, as part of their 2020 Census outreach campaign supported by New York City's Complete Count Fund and Initiative.
The goal of this project is to raise awareness about the 2020 Census and send a special invitation to the Hispanic/Latinx community to make their voices count. The series approaches this serious topic in a comical way by presenting relatable scenarios that illustrate the importance of filling out the Census, while debunking common misconceptions.
All participants involved in the making of these videos are members of the Latinx and Spanish-speaking communities, predominantly Puerto Rican. Our main focus was to ensure that our viewers could relate to the characters in the series, as they are also part of their communities and embody similar fears and uncertainties about the Census. All dialogues and explanations are in Spanish with subtitles in English.
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Each chapter explores interesting topics to help us understand the census process better. Viewers will learn about the census, its history, the different ways to complete it, and its importance, while having a few laughs along the way.
Remember: Our communities deserve a fair allocation of government resources at the federal, national, and local levels in order to ensure that every individual has access to the resources they need to succeed. We are strongly committed to ensuring that our community members are counted in the Census so that future generations have access to fair representation and resources. Fill the 2020 Census TODAY!
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2020 [Virtual] Loisaida Festival Recap
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For the first time in over 30 years, our 2020 Loisaida Festival went completely virtual, presenting more than 15 original works of performance, video and art made by artists working in a range of disciplines, from dance to visual arts.
The 2020 [Virtual] Loisaida Festival was recorded live at LoisaidaTV studios using the broadcasting capacity, part of the Semillero Media and Tech center. It was also broadcast on TV through Canal 6 (Puerto Rico), BRIC (Brooklyn), MNN (Manhattan) and Bronxnet (Bronx), and transmitted live by our partners at La Fundación Para La Cultura in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
This year's theme, Cuenta Con Nosotros - Count on Us, highlighted the unwavering dedication of our Latinx essential workers, who have bravely fought in the frontlines against the ongoing health crisis, as well as the plight of the LGBTQ community, as depicted in this year's beautiful commemorative artwork by local artist Maria Dominguez.
You can watch Part 1 & Part 2 of the [Virtual] Loisaida Festival at any time!
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The Festival's program, which took part in a two-day event, was co-hosted by Jeannie Sol and Gilberto Diaz. Our outstanding MCs introduced and walked us through the festival.
Among other key highlights, we premiered an emotive music video featuring renowned singers, actors and performers titled "Alexa" by Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañón, which is dedicated to Alexa Negrón Luciano, a transgender woman who was murdered in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico in February of this year. We also previewed a couple of chapters from our 2020 Census series, Colectivo Te Cuento. This insightful and hilarious short series will help you navigate your questions about the census while cracking a few laughs.
 Video portrait of Luis Rivera, by Melvin Audaz
We also shared a snippet of a video portrait featuring Luis Rivera Fargars, owner of Loisaida's hidden treasure, Casa Adela Restaurant. The film was created by Loisaida Center's artist-in-residence, videographer and filmmaker, Melvin Audaz. This film is part of Audaz's series, Proof of Character, an ode to the Lower East Side, its heroes and history. You can watch the rest of this film in our recent virtual artist talk with Audaz, along with the rest of his video portraits and photography. |
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From left to right: State Senator Brad Hoylman (NY's 27th District); Honorable Councilmember Carlina Rivera
(NY's 2nd District), and Honorable Assemblymember Harvey Esptein (NY's 72nd District).
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Our elected officials made a special appearance, taking a few moments to send their love and support to their viewers. We are thankful for their dedication and hard work to ensure the safety of their constituents!
The Leadership of Acacia Network, our parent organization, also joined our transmission to share a message of hope and solidarity. We are grateful to Acacia Network President & CEO Raul Russi and Chief Operating Officer, Lymaris Albors, for their outstanding dedication to the preservation of our heritage in New York City and the commitment to the Puerto Rican and Latinx Cultures of the Lower East Side of Manhattan!
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The 2020 [Virtual] Loisaida Festival featured over 20 performers, artists and musicians with original pieces.
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Finally, we would like to take a moment to thank the artists and performers who participated in the Virtual Loisaida Festival this year. Despite this year's challenging reality, we were able to successfully hold and deliver an outstanding program to our audience thanks to your continuous support and unbeatable creativity. We couldn't have done it without you!
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710 E. 9th Street New York, NY 10009
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Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved, Loisaida Inc.
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