Desde OMAHA

The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, Nebraska is host this weekend to a quite ambitious "creativity festival." They have an Artist-in-Residency program, and since they were one of the participant venues in the new Midwestern Voices and Visions project, which involved seven artists at seven different artist residencies last year, they invited us all to Omaha to take part. Most importantly, I've been able to meet and learn about the work of:

Reginald Baylor
Cecil McDonald
Robert Karimi
Tomiko Pilson
Artur Silva
Thu Tran

I spoke at length with Robert Karimi, about whom Brenda Cárdenas had spoken to me on a number of occasions. What I didn't know was that he has deep Bay Area connections, and that he had once served as Artistic Director of the Guild Complex. He's currently living in Minneapolis. His residency was at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, which has an interesting residency program unlike most.

With the exception of Tomiko Pilson, who couldn't make it to Omaha, the rest of us took part in a panel discussion yesterday to talk about our residency experiences. One of the highlights of the festival has been visiting the work/living spaces of the current artists-in-residence. I had a great chat with Janelle Iglesias, a New York-based artist who sometimes collaborates with her sister, Lisa. Check them out at Las Hermanas.

I also had a chance to meet Magdalena A. Garcia, the Executive Director of El Museo Latino, which would like to explore the possibility of hosting Poetas y Pintores in 2009.

One of the goals of the Midwestern Voices and Visions project is to increase the number of minority artists who experience, and benefit from, artist residencies. Here are the colonies that said YES to being a part of this worthwhile initiative, funded by the Joyce Foundation and administered by the Alliance for Artist Communities:

Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minnesota---partner for the Letras Latinas Residency Fellowship, whose first recipient, Michelle Otero, is winding down her month in Red Wing; and one of two partners for the Co-hort Residency Program involving winners of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize and the Cave Canem Prize, with the coordination of the Guild Complex: they will be hosting Gabe Gomez and Ronaldo Wilson next summer.

Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois---the other partner in the aforementioned Co-hort Residency Program who will be hosting Sheryl Luna and Dawn Lundy Martin this July.

Prairie Center of the Arts in Peoria, Illinois.

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska.

Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, Michigan.

Art Farm in Marquette, Nebraska.

John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.


Consider applying to these colonies.

Letras Latinas colabora con ParaEsoLaPalabra (PELP)....

...para presentar:

Urayoán Noel
(photo credit: Emmy Pérez)

Carlos Parada, a Salvadoran-born poet I met in October of 2006 in Washington DC, is who first spoke to me about ParaEsoLaPalabra. PELP is a collective who puts on Spanish-language cultural events that typically include poetry, music and the visual arts---evenings that are multidisciplinary in the best sense of the word. The events take place at the Haskell Center, which is part of the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capital Hill. Last friday, I attended for the first time:

With Naomi Ayala's assistance, Letras Latinas partnered with PELP to feature Urayoán Noel, who performed from his recent Spanish-language book (with companion CD), Boringkén, published in Puerto Rico by Librería La Tertulia and Ediciones Callejón.

Also performing that evening were Gabriel Lora and Paco Galarza, who form the Latin Jazz duo Smooth Continent. The evening was rounded out with the presentation of selected works by Cuban-born artist, Lázaro Batista.

And after the event itself is the post-event: a two block stroll to a local Greek restaurant where a few tables are put together and the PELP folks, along with invited artists and guests, sit down for a late dinner---not unlike, one might say, what PALABRA PURA and The Wind Shifts TOUR attempt to foster: breaking bread, drinking wine---in the company of new friends.

And among those new friends (though he didn't make the meal) was Bronx Boricua transplant in DC, Sami Miranda, recent reader at ACENTOS and author of the chapbook, landing, is always a roll of the dice, with beautiful cover and interior art by the aforementioned Lázaro Batista. Miranda, along with Batista and a few others form part of a collective called Tres Raices Arts Collective.

And really, that's what's been on my mind lately: collectives; collectives with common goals doing their thing. Another one I got a glimpse of last week was the Brookland Area Writers & Artists (BAWA), founded by poets Dan Vera and Michael Gushue. The concept is simple: monthly gatherings in an art gallery space to read poems (usually other peoples' poems) around a particular theme. The one last week: dogs. I read "Yoko" and "Sissy Boy" by Thom Gunn and Steven Cordova, respectively.

Special thanks to Neida Pérez, steering committee member of PELP, as well as her colleagues Sonia Gutiérrez and Arturo Salcedo.

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Naomi Ayala and Diana Pando read tomorrow at PALABRA PURA

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Letras Latinas would lastly like to join
the celebratory chorus for the launch of
The Acentos Review.
Congratulations to co-editors
Raina León and Eliel Lucero

"PALABRISTAS: Latin@ Word Slingers"

Carl Marcum and Lorena Duarte
(photo credit: Emmy Pérez)

Emmy Pérez, Urayoán Noel, Francisco Aragón,
Carl Marcum, Venessa Fuentes, Lorena Duarte
(photo credit: Jerod Santek)

Aside, of course, from the readings themselves, The Wind Shifts TOUR aims to provide occasions for anthology contributors to connect with one another---particularly among those who haven't met or those who have, but barely.

If the reading in Palm Beach in February allowed the featured poets to connect with fellow anthology contributor Richard Blanco, and local poets Emma Trelles and Rita Marie Martínez, the reading in Minneapolis introduced us to fellow anthology contributor Venessa Fuentes, and local poets Lorena Duarte (a board member of The Loft, and gracious Minneapolis tour guide) and, later in the evening, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria---both of them contributors to a chapbook anthology called Outside the Lines, and edited by Brandon Lacy Campos, Lorena Duarte, Tatiana Ormaza, and Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria and featuring "PALABRISTAS: Latin@ Word Slingers." (Rodrigo also gifted a number of us with his spoken word CD, DESCONOCIDOS, which I had the pleasure of listening to last night).

The preface to Outside the Lines, titled "Somos," articulates, towards the end:

"Palabristas formed to solidify our connection as Latino writers. But, it also formed with a desire to be teachers, activists, and truth-tellers. With a dedication to our community, we sought to form a group that would not only echo the hearts of Latino people, but also serve to share the beauty of our voices with the broader community. Our histories are mixtures of this land and El Salvador, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Puerto Rico. Our words are mezclas of Spanish, English and mismatched dialects from anywhere we called home."

Próxima Parada: Seattle.