Famous Puerto Rican writers, poets, artists, actors, directors, comedians, musicians, and political activists debut their new projects at Teatro LATEA, a beloved stage at The Clemente in the Lower East Side of New York City.
The Clemente presents famous Puerto Rican poets, artists, actors, directors, and activists
Tertulia with Poet Giannina Braschi and Artist Miguel Trelles Hernández
Musical interludes by Play_Ground.
October 20th 2021 at Teatro LATEA at THE CLEMENTE, Lower East Side, New York City
Click here to view the video of this special event.
Giannina Braschi was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literatures from the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Braschi has published numerous works in Spanish, Spanglish, and English, including El imperio de los sueños (Anthropos, 1988), Yo-Yo Boing! (Latin American Literary Review Press, 1998) and United States of Banana (AmazonCrossing, 2011).The Library of Congress describes Braschi as “cutting-edge, influential and even revolutionary,” noting that there are “elements of art, culture, philosophy, and politics in all of her literary works.Her honors include awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Danforth Foundation, Ford Foundation, Puerto Rican Institute for Culture, Rutgers University, PEN America, and others.
Tertulia’s host Miguel Trelles Hernández is a Puerto Rican visual artist who lives and works in the Lower East Side. A Puerto Rican painter/printmaker Trelles Hernández creates Chino-latino paintings, Latin Pop silkscreens while drawing “Mesoamerican Fantasies”. He has also been actively engaged in curating exhibitions at The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center (The Clemente). Trelles’ yearly Borimix visual arts group show at The Clemente has been taking place yearly since 2006. Since 2017 he has been at the helm of Teatro LATEA, The Clemente’s original theater space. Famous Puerto Rican writers, poets, artists, directors, and political activists call “El Clemente” their hub for the presentation of new cultural projects.
Play_Ground is an eclectic musical unit, founded by versatile New York City based multi instrumentalists, Slovenian born Jan Kus and Puerto Rican born Dan Martínez. Meeting during their formative musical years in New York, the two immediately felt a kinship in terms of the vastness of their musical taste and common interests outside of music. After years of playing together in many numerous musical situations, ranging from Latin Jazz to Pop to Balkan Music, Flamenco and beyond, the two musical luminaries were looking for a musical platform, a vessel, on which they can spontaneously switch between various genres, in a sort of borderless, free flowing conversation, which is in itself a reflection of the eclectic modern world we live in today.
TEATRO LATEA @ The Clemente: Nuyorican and Puerto Rican Poetry and Art
The Clemente is a Puerto Rican and Latinx cultural space rooted in the Lower East Side. We connect and co-create with contemporary artists, cultural workers and small arts organizations by offering subsidized studios, exhibition, rehearsal, office and venue spaces; and produce our own programming in a spirit of responsiveness, heritage conversation and provocative collaboration.
The Clemente was founded in 1993 thanks to the leadership of Puerto Rican poet Ed Vega Yunqué, Uruguayan actor/director Nelson Landrieu, and Dominican actor Mateo Gómez. The organization was named after the Puerto Rican poet Clemente Soto Vélez, who for many years had been an inspiration for the Latino community of the Lower East Side given his literary output, artistic mentorship, and community organizing.
Libertad O. Guerra, Executive Director