David & Victor performing folk songs in Spanish and the dialect Zapoteca
THE ST.GEORGE WATERFRONT FESTIVAL
Saturday August 6 at the Ferry Terminal (1pm – 9pm)
This Saturday, August 6th (1pm-9pm), the Borough President’s Office is hosting the first St.George Waterfront Festival. There will artists and vendors on the plaza down to the stadium and beyond. Please see the schedule here!! The Staten Island Advance gave a nice summary of the events here and here. The festival, which will take place along the St. George esplanade next to the ferry terminal, will feature musical performances, historic re-enactments, local artist showcases and some Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons. There will be FIVE MACY’s Thanksgiving Day Balloons to see up close, “living history” and reenactments, Native American dance and fire demo, International dancers, walking tours, fireworks and much more.
The all day event will feature a Lenape Fire demo with Staten Island Museum and walking tours of St. George at 2pm and 3:30 with Pat Salmon. All kids who come in any costume will receive a free Staten Island Coloring book. Volunteers still needed please call 646-345-4507. Click here for a schedule of events.
I am particularly excited to hear some traditional Mexican folk music from local musicians David Surez and Victor Soto. David and Victor are the recipients of this year’s JP Morgan Chase Arts in Our Communities grant. Later this year they will be presenting traditional folk songs, stories, and poems that speak to the range of dialects and traditions of Mexico. Stay Tuned!! Thanks to the efforts of the Ghanaian Association of Staten Island, COAHSI will also be setting up the traditional Kente Cloth loom for a demonstrations with by Oti Kegya and Samuel Owusu-Sekyere.
Harbortown and Bob Wright will sing about the harbor to the harbor
Finally, what would a waterfront festival be without songs about the last working waterfront in New York City? Thankfully, Bob Wright and Harbortown will provide the songs of Staten Island on the main stage. Folks that wonder about the cultural significance of Staten Island, past, present, and future, obviously do not own one of Bob Wright’s CD’s. If you would like to hear more about Bob Wright, please listen a podcast we put together last year.
THE 6th ANNUAL STATEN ISLAND INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL
Saturday, August 13 2011 -Tappan Park-(12pm-5pm)
Saturday, August 13 2011 -Tappan Park-(12pm-5pm)
In its sixth year, the Century Dance Complex will continue to showcase the artistic and cultural diversity on Staten Island at the Staten Island International Dance Festival. Rose Kingston and theCDC have silently established the diverse cultural event that Staten Island has been clamoring for. If you value diversity on Staten Island, then please support this event. It will make you feel proud to live on this diverse island of ours. See the soundslide by Traci Oshiro of the Century Dance Complex. See the flyer here.
In 2011, COAHSI Folklife will circulate “The Culture of Joy & Resilience: Reframing Cultural Conversations on Staten Island” to New York Public Libraries across the borough. A series of exhibit panels, each profiling four community-based folk art expressions, will rotate among several neighborhood NYPL branches. Public performances and demonstrations will accompany the exhibits throughout the year. COAHSI and the National Endowment for the Arts are excited to highlight Staten Island’s greatest resource-it’s rich diversity and heritage!
“El Centro,” a storefront immigrant day worker center in Port Richmond, has sponsored many community events, such as the Cinco de Mayo celebration at Faber Park. El Centro was developed in 1997 by a collaborative effort of Project Hospitality, the Latino Civic Association, and St. Mary’s of the Assumption Church to address the needs of the newly arrived immigrant day laborers and their families. It works to create “a space where recently arrived immigrants can form friendships, receive information and training and make their own contribution to the Staten Island community.” Through immigrant and labor advocacy, educational workshops, cultural programming, labor leadership training, and emergency intervention for hunger, homelessness and health/safety needs, El Centro provides opportunities for economic empowerment, cultural education, community-building and organizing.
“Latino Folklorico de Staten Island” is a group of English as a Second Language students at El Centro. As they rehearse, dance and perform, they also educate and foster better relations between the Latino community and the community at large. They have organized themselves with a clear mission to foster cultural awareness and understanding of the diverse Latino population of Staten Island through music, dance and educational programs.
The Staten Island 350th Anniversary has been dedicated to cashing in on the intellectual capital on Staten Island. On March 19th and 20th, you can enjoy the fortune our Island’s wealth of knowledge at the conference entitled: “Staten Island in American History and 21st Century education.” Over the next few weeks, I will be posting some ideas and reflections about my paper in the conference entitled…surprise, surprise: The Culture of Joy & Resilience: Re-framing Cultural Conversations on Staten Island.”
Here is a brief description of the types of activities at the conference:
An understanding of the role of place and the attachment to community in America has never been more critical than in our rapidly changing global environment. This conference seeks to explore major turning points and issues in American history as experienced by the residents of Staten Island past and present. Located at the entrance to New York harbor, Staten Island is one of the five boroughs that comprise New York City. Since 1661, Staten Island has been the home of settlers and migrants from around
the globe. Staten Island’s cultural diversity and its regional and global interconnections are reflected in its institutions, cuisine, art and architecture, businesses, social movements, recreational tourism, transportation heritage, and in the service of its military veterans. Our goal is to rethink the significance of Staten Island and its important historic sites, as part of New York City, the region, the nation, and the world through the interdisciplinary lenses of history and Place-based Education.
Located on Port Richmond Ave., the busiest street in town, Café con Pan provides Latinos with a delicious taste of home, and tempts passers-by with its colorful displays and sweet aromas. The bakery sells pastries and flan, donuts and cakes, sweet breads and tortas. It carries these foods all over the neighborhood, for birthday and sweet sixteen parties, festivals, weddings, and all kinds of occasions.
During the Summer of 2010, COAHSI Folklife collaborated with City Lore’s City of Memory Project to produce a cultural tour of Port Richmond. City Lore is a non-profit organization, located on the Lower East Side, dedicated to preserving, promoting, and documenting New York City’s cultural heritage. 
The “City of Memory” is an online community map of personal stories and memories organized on a physical geographical map that ” convey the richness of New York City’s cultural heritage.” COAHSI Folklife teamed up with City Lore’s intern/folklorist Anna Batcheller, and Port Richmond’s own Jesus Cabrera. During the days of heavy police presence in reaction to hate crimes, we produced a video tour of Port Richmond and tried to capture an ounce of one aspect of the rich cultural expression thriving within this neighborhood, but seldom spoken about.
*Special thanks to all the community members of Port Richmond who consulted with us during the making of the short video—and the wonderful folks at Cafe Con Pan Bakery. Finally, thanks to Steve Zeitlin and City Lore for the collaboration–it is an honor! Photo above by Anna Batcheller.
Ballet Guadalupano was founded in 2004 by Port Richmond’s Emma Tapia, Mon Olmedo, Pedro Guzman and Daniel Jesus Cabrera to present the history, cultural heritage and traditions of Mexico through music and dance on Staten Island. As they rehearse at St. Mary’s of the Assumption and perform around Staten Island, the group aims to give an outlet for young children on Staten Island to stay connected to and take pride in their Mexican identity. Performances also help adults from the Mexican community reconnect with their cultural heritage, which can otherwise be easily lost or ignored in the United States.
Since 2004, Ballet Guadalupano has performed Mexican regional folkloric dances that connect the diverse Mexican community on Staten Island with its culture and heritage. Over the past seven years they have performed an extensive repertoire of regional Mexican dances such as Jalisco, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Nayarit, and Veracruz for celebrations and cultural events all over Staten Island. Recently, they have expanded their repertoire to include dances originating from the Northern region of Mexico in the state of Nuevo Leon. In 2010, they hosted the first Mexican Independence Day celebration on Staten Island.
The next Irish Seission will occur on February 13th at the Wild Goose Pub. In my e-blast I mistakenly put down the wrong date. My apologies!!!
Tour guide: Jesus Cabrera
Production: Anna Batcheller & COAHSI Folklife
Staten Island’s Latino population is growing rapidly, and Port Richmond is at the center of all its activity. According to the 2005-2007 American Community Survey, Staten Island is unique among New York’s five boroughs in that the Latino population increased at a pace that mirrors the national rate, at 3.5 percent. In the past two decades, this community has revitalized Port Richmond with small businesses, restaurants, bodegas, and cultural events and activities.
In recent years, with the economic downturn, national preoccupation on immigration, and new immigrants moving into established neighborhoods, racial tension and conflict have overshadowed the surge of Latino culture. When we filmed this tour in summer 2010, Port Richmond was mourning a spate of hate crimes that targeted Mexicans. The streets were lined with police watchtowers, patrol cars at every corner, policemen on horseback, and news vans with satellite dishes.
Anna & Jesus Discuss the Chapel and Port Richmond processions
As politicians discussed racism and hate crime task forces were organized, Jesus Cabrera was talking to us about the beauty and dignity of the Latino community. He talked about being united together, about children learning traditional Mexican dances, and about the role of the church. He brought us to a chapel, a bakery, a church parking lot, and a park. He filled each location with stories of community activity, cultural celebrations, and of people helping each other.
VISIT CITY LORE’s “City of Memory” project here!
*Special thanks to all the community members of Port Richmond who consulted with us during the making of the short video! Finally, thanks to Steve Zeitlin and City Lore for the collaboration–it is an honor!
This video was released on You Tube by concertina player, Doug Barr. This video footage was put together taken by one of the many visitors to the Seisiún Staten Island at the Wild Goose Pub (530 Forest Avenue) from 1pm -4pm, every second Sunday of the month. Please come visit the session live! Join Linda Hickman (Flute), Doug Barr (Concertina), and Iris Nevins (Harp), at the Wild Goose Pub this Sunday, January 9th for the first session of the New Year. The sessions occur on the second Sunday of every month. Because of the success of these musical gatherings, Seisiún Staten Island has been extended through March.
One Island, Many Stories: Staten Island’s 350th Anniversary in 2011
by Dr. Lori Weintrob
Click Here for More Information
Walk in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the Dalai Lama—right here on Staten Island. Draw inspiration from the waterfront of the Kill Van Kull to the street of “Shaolin,” as did artist Jasper Cropsey, drama critic William Winter, photographer Alice Austen, silent film star Mabel Normand, poet Audre Lorde, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Zindel, rock star Gene Simmons and many, many others.
Throughout the 2011, SI350, Inc., a borough-wide coalition of over 50 cultural, educational and civic groups, will be sponsoring events for the 350th Anniversary of Staten Island. Our goal is to strengthen the Staten Island community, through the promotion of pride, tourism and knowledge about our shared past and its enduring legacy. We encourage tourists and resident alike to rediscover to understand better its place in the history of New York City, the region, and the world by rediscovering 350 fascinating local sites. Both the sites and events will be focused around a new theme each month in 2011: Transportation, Education and Health, Business, Immigration and Ethnicity, Food and Drink, The Arts, Sports, Environment, Politics and Civic Life, Architecture, Military and Religion. Most events are free and open to the general public.
Why now? The year 2011 will mark the 350th anniversary of the first permanent European settlement of Staten Island. In 1661, Peter Stuyvesant, the Director General of New Amsterdam, granted a petition authorizing land grants to Dutch, French and Belgian families. Unlike prior European settlement, this community co-existed with the Native American Lenape, who had lived on Aquehonga (the Algonquin term for “High Sandy Banks”) for five hundred years. From that moment on Staten Island was linked to peoples, products and ideas throughout the world, generating a dynamic community. Three hundred fifty years later, our borough is a thriving community comprised of diverse waves of immigrants, from Irish, German, Italian and Afro-Caribbean to Sri Lankan, Korean and Liberian, part of a global economic and cultural community
From today’s major arts venues and architectural landmarks, such as the Chinese Scholar’s Garden at Snug Harbor, the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, the St. George Theater and the North Shore galleries, we also draw attention to earlier times when the arts flourished at regal art deco movie houses such as the Paramount and the Ritz, in dozens of vaudeville theaters (at Midland Beach, for example), with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in Mariner’s Harbor, and early film studios featuring stars like native-born Mabel Normand. Ethnic folklore and festivals, environmental appreciation, architectural sites, veteran’s memorials, WPA murals (in Borough Hall) and political parades are all part of the development of the arts and humanities on Staten Island.
Each month, SI350 will sponsor or co-sponsor a number of events, from exhibits to cabaret nights, related to the theme. Here are a few upcoming highlights: On January 20th, 6pm is the opening of Robert Padovano and Mary Bullock’s Going Places: Transportation in Paintings and Photos, at the new Con Edison/SI350 gallery at the College of Staten Island Library Rotunda. On Sat. January 15th, 1:30, the John Noble Collection will feature a family maritime art workshop. On Sat., January 22nd, 1:30pm, learn more about and travel on “The Staten Island Ferry” with curator Patricia Salmon. In February, for the themes of Education and Health, the “Happy Birthday Staten Island” party, at the Staten Island Children’s museum will feature colonial costumes kids can be photographed, on loan from Historic Richmond Town, as well as music, arts, games, cooking projects and give-aways related to our colonial history. As part of March’s focus on business, enjoy Portraits in Leadership: African American Entrepreneurs, sponsored by the Staten Island History Center and Archives, Snug Harbor Campus. In April, look for events related to Staten Island’s many ethnicities, from Dutch to Chinese and Italian. From May to December, many more events await, including a “living flag” at Staten Island Yankee Stadium, reenactment of the Battle of Brooklyn at Fort Wadsworth and Commemorations of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War at Snug Harbor.
One highlight of the year is the March 19-20th public history conference at the College of Staten Island, funded by the Staten Island Foundation. Many of the 78 papers to be presented about Staten Island–by scholars and educators from Oregon and Toronto to Staten Island–focus on the Humanities and the Arts. In addition to papers on Langston Hughes, Paul Zindel, the artisans at Atlantic Terra Cotta and battles over the natural environment, Barnett Shepherd will be presenting a paper on “Staten Island Scenery before 1855: drawings, prints and paintings,” Sarah Clark, associate curator at Historic Richmond Town, will be speaking of “The Real Things: The Material Culture of Staten Island,” and Christopher Mule, folklorist at COAHSI, will lead a discussion on, “The Culture and Joy and Resilience: Reframing Cultural Conversations on Staten Island Through the Traditional Arts.”Even those deeply familiar with the arts on Staten Island will find surprises in 2011. For example, how many are familiar with a poem Langston Hughes, internationally acclaimed Harlem Renaissance poet, published just after his summer working on a Greek-owned farm in Bull’s Head? Andrew Wilson, Digital Producer of the New York Public Library, has traced his Staten Island writings, including those about the ferry, through his autobiography and other publications. In 1922, Hughes penned the lines of After Many Springs :
Now, In June
When the night is a vast softness filled with blue stars,
And broken shafts of moon-glimmer,
Fall Upon the Earth
Am I too old to see the fairies dance?
I cannot find them anymore
The Black feminist lesbian poet Audre Lorde, who lived for two decades in Stapleton during and after the civil rights era, also wrote of the skies and earth of Staten Island in her more controversial poem: “On My Way Out I Passed Over You
and the Verrazano Bridge,” which begins: Leaving leaving/ the bridged water/ beneath/
the red sands of South Beach/silhouette houses sliding off the horizon…” Her anger, about pollution from New Jersey as well as local racism, coincided with the growing strength of the environmental rights movement. These less-known works, and more familiar place-based references in Paul Zindel’s work or the glorious Broadway run of Galt McDermont’s “Hair,”are among the artistic treasures that will be unearthed in 2011.
What are the most important places and who are the most significant people in the history of the arts and humanities on Staten Island? Look for familiar places, but also less so. Did you remember to include Mandolin Brothers of West Brighton, one of the largest dealers in the world of vintage and new American fretted instruments, whose customers includeTom Chapin, Gloria Estafan, Lenny Kravitz, Cyndi Lauper, Paul McCartney, Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, and our own Vernon Reid? We intend this year to be a moment that all Staten Islanders engage in a vibrant debate about what matters most not only to the local community but regionally and even globally about the evolution of our borough.
We invite you to visit our website, www.SI350.org and download the twelve themed trails. Take a walk through history and see the historic, artistic, cultural and unique sites that make up the diverse fabric of our borough.
Lori Weintrob, Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department, Wagenr College, is Co-Chair of SI350, inc. and Co-editor of Discovering Staten Island: 350 Sites for 350 Years (forthcoming, History Press, March 2011). This article utilizes research and writing from the chapter on the arts on Staten Island written by Meg Ventrudo, Executive Director of the Jacques Marchais Tibetan Art Museum.
See Article for full newspaper pdf/google document
In December of 2010, the Akwaaba: Weaving Unity from Bonwire to Staten Island exhibit was honored by the presence of scholar, friend, and journalist, Kofi Ayim. Mr. Ayim, originally from Ghana, is a well respected journalist and scholar in the Tri-State area and beyond. He taught me a thing or two (hundred) about the origins of Kente Cloth weaving and the seldom understood connection African artistic practices have to the divine. The newspaper that Mr. Ayim edits is called Amandla. It is distributed via email and currently does not have a website. With that being said, I will supply links to the entire paper in pdf and google doc format. The article was extremely well written and we felt honored to receive the attention (and friendship) Kofi Ayim.
As the theme of this blog suggests, my interest in how cultural expression is framed within the media has greatly influenced our work at COAHSI Folklife. From my experience working with Samuel Owusuo-Sekyere and the family of Kente weavers on Staten Island, the perception of Africa that is played out in the mainstream media (and beyond) is in serious need of critique and scrutiny. With that being said, I was very happy to come across the Amandla newspaper. The following is an excerpt from one of the papers contributors- Dr. M. O. Ené
“First, I welcome Amandla to the stable of information outlets in our American-African communities and beyond. “Amandla” means “power”; information is power, no doubt about that. If you don’t know about the world around you, you won’t know about your world because we now live in the so-called “global village.” Fortunately, we live in an information age; unfortunately, the packaging and presentation of information can leave you knowing about your world from the jaundiced eyes of people who know little about you or who twist the much they know to suit their hidden agenda. And so it was that when Kofi Ayim wanted an African name that truly encapsulates the concept of power in information dissemination, I didn’t think twice. Here you have it, folks: another African medium to embrace and support. Amandla! Awethu! Oh yes, power to the people: the power to know and the power to participate. Come, let’s go.”
Please contact me if you would like to receive the Amandla Newspaper via email from Mr. Kofi Ayim. In the meantime, I hope the power of information can lead us to a deeper understanding and connection to the rich cultural expressions, living and breathing on Staten Island, throughout 2011! It is our hope that the cultural conversations during this year are able to capture an ounce of the deep commitment, complexity, beauty, and generosity which the traditional arts of Staten Island continue to contribute.
E-Book PDF: Download
Dona Kiriella’s “Moving with the Past” printmaking exhibition is focused on American Sri Lankan woman who carry a rich traditional background through history. Her exhibit at the Kevin Barry Gallery brought in close to two hundred people at her opening reception on November 27th. The exhibit runs through the end of February 27th. Dona’s work and the motivation for her art work is a clear illustration of COAHSI’s Folklife’s theme of the Joy of Culture & Resilience: reframing culture conversations on Staten Island. I recently sat down to speak with Dona about her work and what she is trying to accomplish through her printmaking.
What are interested in saying with your printmaking?
I want to promote Sri Lankan traditional art. Sri Lankan art forms started with the line drawings and symbolism from 2 or 3 BC, located in the giant rock peak called Sigriya in Sri Lanka. I want to promote these drawings and symbols and how rich they are. It’s easy to promote with the printmaking. It’s fast and its’ easy to handle. It is a fast, modern—a contemporary process. If you have something in your mind, you can produce it. Sometimes people forget their tradition and culture, when they go with other countries, sometimes that don’t know. We have a nice thing. Promote that, use that! Anybody, not just Sri Lankan traditions, you can use for anything.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
When I go back home I often visit the temples with her family. I will bring my children, visit my ancestors and the museums. I take sketches and take pictures of the drawings on the Sigriya. Then, in my art work, I plays with layers, colors, and line drawings. When I see colors that I like I match them to images.
Where did you first start to work with these Sri Lankan symbols desings? In Sri Lanka?
No, in Sri Lanka I wasn’t able to connect with the richness in our traditional designs and art work. If I were over there making art, I would be focusing on American art. At the University in Sri Lanka, they focus on art magazines about Europe and American Art. We only see contemporary painting in school. Sri Lanka is a very small country. When a popular person comes to the country they start doing painting and everyone follows what they teachers are doing. They are not thinking on their own. People don’t want to see another picture from the Sigriya. I don’t want to do that either. But I want to change it –use the same line drawing but in a contemporary way. That way, people will see it in a different way—in a contemporary style.
How did your connection the Sri Lankan traditional art change when you came to the United States? Continue reading »
It actually increased. When I go to other cultural events, I compare my culture with the
Dona Kiriella’s “Moving with the Past” printmaking exhibition is focused on American SriLankan woman who carry a rich traditional background through history. The opening reception on November 27th at the Kevin Barry Gallery on Staten Island had over 175 visitors in attendance. Congratulations to Dona Kiriella for putting together one of the largest art exhibit openings on Staten Island! In addition, congratulations to the folks that came out during the holiday weekend to show their support. Please visit the Staten Island Advance to get a closer look at the wonderful photo of Dona and Major General Shavendra Silva, deputy permanent representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. Stay tuned for more information about further art exhibits from Dona Kiriella. Visit her exhibit at the Kevin Barry Gallery this Saturday. The exhibit runs through the end of February.
Arts in Education- Bringing Artists to the Classroom: SI TAI March 13, 2012It is a truism that good artists don’t automatically make good teachers of their art. Teaching is a separate talent. It is also a learned skill; one that can be built and strengthened. And when an excellent artist becomes a teaching artist, sparks can fly – the good kind of sparks, the kind that travel […]Kelly
- Bringing Artists to the Classroom: SI TAI March 13, 2012
- Lumen
- Featured Artist: Chee Wang Ng May 10, 2012I had the opportunity to ask a few of the LUMEN artists about their work. One of my personal favorites is Chee Wang Ng. His work fascinates me because of its simplicity. Creative and beautiful, it uses a recurring theme of rice bowls. His piece that will be shown as part of LUMEN 2012 […]lumenfest
- Featured Artist: Chee Wang Ng May 10, 2012
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