Travesía Artística (Artistic Voyage)

Hi, my name is Lorie; I am a NYC-based artist and cultural advocate. I first created this blog in 2015 as a means of documenting my experience as a student of a community arts program in Puerto Rico with CCCADI. The blog has lived on, documenting my experiences in NYC and beyond, participating in artful events, and maintaining threads of community arts, social justice, EDI and the Puerto Rican diaspora. Thank you for your interest in my Travesía Artística! I hope to hear from you.

Showing posts with label Rhina Valentin. Show all posts

Friday, January 17, 2020

Otra Vez! 43rd Annual Three Kings Day Parade!

For the second year in a row, I lent a hand to my friends at El Museo del Barrio for their amazing, over-the-top annual event - Three Kings Day Parade & Celebration. This year being their 43rd, was entitled, Nuestros Barrios Unidos: Celebrating our Collective Strength, honoring New York City's immigrant and migrant communities of past and present. The parade is a beautiful tribute to Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Latin American and Latinx cultures, and the el Barrio neighborhood. It also helps to keep the cultural and religious tradition of the Three Kings, Dia De Los Reyes (AKA the Epiphany) alive.

Being that I did it last year, I was asked once again to assist on the Facebook Live filming, hosted by Rhina "La Reina del Barrio" Valentin. I never knew that doing PA work would be interesting to me, but it was great fun to do it with Rhina and her comrades, J Spock and Frank as we ran through the parade filming all of the fun and grandeur featuring giant puppets, live camels and performances by Bomba Yo, Annette Aguilar & the Stringbeans, Fogo Azul, and Wabafu Garifuna Dance Theater.

The Three Kings event starts early with a breakfast and awards ceremony honoring the Kings, Madrinas and Padrinos - which includes addresses from local elected officials. Next is the main event - the colorful parade - marching from 106th and Park all the way up to La Marqueta (which has an after party of it's own). And finally, the after-party back at El Museo featuring Los Planeros de la 21 live in concert.

Here are the Facebook livestream video links:

Morning Interviews with Kings at El Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/1450379748460129/
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/2611331682277352/
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/2420506244881531/
Bomba Yo! Parranda at El Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/1076140599393044/
Entire Honoree Award Ceremony at El Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/2473881856261387/
Entire Parade Route
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/1092045801131851/
After Party at La Marqueta
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/516221649008235/
Live Concert with Los Planeros de la 21 at EL Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/471484240179219/

Backstage with El Museo Executive Director, Patrick Charpenel; Director of Communications, Rose Mary Cortez; Grand Marshall, Marcos Saavedra; King Emeritus, Jesus "Papoletto" Melendez; and some of the Madrenas and Padrinos.

Rhina Valentin (playing double-duty as a Madrina "Celia Cruz" and Facebook Live Hostess) with "King" Elba Cabrera.

Before an interview with Univision TV.

Rhina being interviewed by MC Victor Cruz.

Bomba Yo

Honoree breakfast award ceremony.

"King" Elba Cabrera speech

"King" Elba Cabrera

"King" Julissa Arce

Madrinas and Padrinos

Start of the parade route

Rhina with Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams

Rhina with Bomba Yo

Rhina with Fogo Azul

Three Kings

At La Marqueta

A parranda at la Marqueta

(all photos by me - see more on IG @whippedhoney)

Saturday, February 9, 2019

El Museo del Barrio's Three Kings Day Parade!

Have you ever noticed recurring themes in your life? Well, one recurring theme for me is parades. Not going to parades, but actually being in parades.

It all started back when my Immaculata High School classmates and I were made to walk in the Columbus Day Parade - I was a flag twirler! I didn't particularly care for it, but I marched and twirled nonetheless. Through the years I have walked in numerous parades (some of my own volition and some with coaxing by friends); from the Puerto Rican Day Parade, to the Village Halloween Parade, to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and the Dance Parade. Numerous times.

Being an Arts Administration graduate student now, one of the program requirements is to get a professional internship. Last November, the opportunity arose to apply for an internship at one of my most beloved cultural institutions: El Museo del Barrio. And when I found out they would particularly need me to assist in the production of their 42nd Annual Three Kings Day Parade, I thought to myself: of course, this makes perfect sense!

For the purposes of this blog post, I won't go into detail about the work that was done leading up to the parade, but suffice to say El Museo's entire staff puts in a lot of time and energy preparing for this huge annual event which pays homage to the Caribbean/Latin American holiday tradition connecting with the surrounding community. In addition to the actual parade, there's a breakfast and awards ceremony immediately beforehand and a celebration with live performances after - so it's like three events in one. As an intern, I was working between two departments - Public Programming, and Marketing and Communications. Leading up to the parade, I helped with whatever was needed. I was not aware of where I would be stationed on the big day. And then I met Rhina.

Rhina "La Reina" Valentin, a well-known host of BronxNet TV show Open, was to host El Museo's first ever Facebook Live feed of the parade. It was a great match since Rhina is a super-energetic host and (as I would soon learn) knows just about everyone in El Barrio. Rhina's partner in crime, Spock, was there to help produce the show, along with Alo from the East Harlem Culture Collective on camera/tech duty. I became a defacto Production Assistant. I'd never worked in film production before, but since I had a level of familiarity with parades, I was up for the task.

Early on Friday morning, January 4th, 2019 when people started pouring in to El Museo for the breakfast, we started by grabbing a few honorees for interviews - Dr. Betty Rosa, Hiram Maristany, and Jorge Ramos, all dressed in amazing regalia. From there the award ceremony, hosted by comedien Victor Cruz, began with remarks from elected officials like Melissa Mark Viverito, Gayle Brewer, and Ruben Diaz Jr. This year's theme was "Advocacy in Action" and all of the Kings, Madrinas and Padrinos being honored embodied that spirit in some way. King Emeritus, Jesus "Papoleto" Melendez graced us with a powerful poem before the awards were distributed.

Suddenly, a lively parranda appeared and lead us over to the parade route, starting at 106th and Park. It was hard to miss the giant puppets created by artist Polina Porras, representing the Three Kings, awaiting us along with lots and lots of school children wearing crowns. Rhina immediately went into full gear, sprinting effervescently through the parade interviewing so many people - and even dancing a few times along the way. Alo filmed the livestream without a break from the start to the end of the parade where we finally met the Three Kings and the three (live!) camels.

Another parade under my belt.

In the end, it was an amazing event to participate in. The fact that El Museo has carried on this tradition for 42 years is a feat in and of itself. It's a beautiful tribute to Three Kings Day, to El Barrio, to Caribbean, Latinx and Latin American communities; and a lovely demonstration of maintaining important cultural traditions within a rapidly-changing neighborhood.

I managed to snap some candid shots and video clips along the way. I have posted them below, along with the Facebook live links from EL Museo's Facebook page. To see more of my photos, check out IG @whippedhoney.