Over 150 people joined the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (IPRAC) as it hosted the official unveiling of a new US stamp honoring renowned Puerto Rican poet, Julia de Burgos on Friday, September 24.

An award-winning writer, poet and journalist, Julia de Burgos takes her place among honorees in the Postal Service’s Literary Arts series along with several other distinguished Latina/o writers.

The Postal Service honors Julia de Burgos as a revolutionary writer, thinker, and activist who wrote more than 200 poems probing issues of love, feminism, as well as political and personal freedom. Julia de Burgos’ groundbreaking works urged women, minorities and the poor to defy social conventions and find their own true selves.

The event featured a film on the life of Julia de Burgos followed by wel
coming remarks by IPRAC’s Board of Director President Ray Vázquez. Dean of Students at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School Judy Díaz and Program Director of Batey Urbano Jessie Fuentes recited two of Julia de Burgos’ most famous poems, “Ay, Ay de la Grifa Negra” and “A Julia de Burgos.” Chicago District Manager / Post Master USPS Gloria E. Tyson  spoke about the importance of Julia De Burgos, the Latino employees at the USPS, as well as the overall important of Latina/os in the United States.

The guest speaker of the event was Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez who highlighted the pain, suffering and promise of Julia de Burgos, as well as the lessons that Latinos could draw from her life. The Congressman was given a rousing ovation upon finishing his powerful and inspiring remarks.

The unveiled stamp will now become a part of IPRAC’s permanent
collection.

Jonathan Rivera

To see more photos click:IPRAC co-sponsors Humboldt Park Premeire of Julia de Burgos Stamp with USPS

Luis Padial

Father Raúl Morales Berrios stood before a crowd of over 250 parishioners who gathered in the courtyard of the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. His sermon was sung using improvised verses as the unmistakable sounds of the Puerto Rican cuatro guitar pierced the evening air.  This was no ordinary religious ceremony, it was a Misa Jíbara – deep from the mountains of Puerto Rico and it served to kickoff one of the most unforgettable weekends for Chicago’s Puerto Rican community.

For the past 17 years Fiesta Boricua has been a staple of Chicago’s summer festivals. Every September thousands gather under the magnificent steel flags on Division Street to experience the best of Puerto Rico’s music, food and traditions.  This year, its organizers incorporated a new dimension to this diverse cultural experience.  Under the theme “Lo mejor de nuestros pueblos” – “The best of our towns,” the festival incorporated a series of events to showcase the finest cultural elements of one of the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico. The first pueblo featured was Comerío, a beautiful city located in the heart of Puerto Rico’s central mountains.  Over 200 Comerío residents flew into Chicago to take part in the weekend celebration.
The weekend began with Misa Jíbara, one of Comerío’s oldest and most cherished traditions. A Catholic Mass infused with musical and cultural elements of Puerto Rico, Misa Jíbara is a celebration of faith, inspiration and culture, combining the Spanish language, folk music and deeply rooted Puerto Rican traditions to produce a beautiful Catholic liturgy. Parishioners from both Comerío and Chicago witnessed a stunning service during which prayers were harmonized to the tune of Jíbaro music and the priest improvised the sermon in song.

Following the mass, attendees joined hundreds of other Chicago residents for Noche Jíbara, a gala celebration at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture. The celebration was also dedicated to the city of Comerío and included the finest music, customs and artistry of the mountain town. Guests enjoyed traditional musical performances by some of Comerío’s most skilled musicians and dancers including numerous troubadours, who interpreted decimas, an improvised musical composition born of a tradition that dates back to Medieval Spain. The Mayor of Comerío, the Honorable Josian Santiago, was on hand and praised the event as the beginning of a new era in collaboration between the cities of Chicago and Comerío.
Even after an event-filled night the fun was not over.

The next day thousands of residents from across Chicago converged on Paseo Boricua to enjoy a day of music, food and art at Fiesta Boricua. The delegation from Comerío took the stage and delighted the audience with a series of rousing performances that lasted throughout the night.

The “Lo mejor de nuestros pueblos” initiative was truly a tremendous success bringing an authentic Puerto Rican cultural experience to the heart of Chicago. We look forward to this fun-filled event next year!

“Everyone Matters” showcases the artwork by over 50 Humboldt Park community residents sharing personal messages of resilience and positive life choices. The exhibit reflects personal journeys towards healing, where art becomes a tool for personal empowerment and healing. “Everyone Matters” brings together seven community organizations, art therapists and teaching artists to disseminate stories of personal growth relevant to the Chicago Latino community.

“Everyone Matters” will open with a community reception Friday October 8th from 5:30 to 8:30PM. The exhibit will remain open till Saturday October 30th at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture located 3015 West Division Street, Chicago. Exhibit gallery hours are Monday, Tuesdays, Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 10:30AM to 6:30PM.
Free admission and parking for the entire family.

“Everyone Matters” is presented by the Behavioral Health Task Force (BHTF) of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness and is a collaboration between Association House of Chicago, Casa Central, La Casa Norte, Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, Erie Family Health Center, Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, and the Norwegian American Hospital.

“Everyone Matters” also counts with the collaboration of Erasing the Distance, IPRAC, Vocalo 89.5FM and WBEZ Radio West Side Bureau. Everyone Matters is made possible through the financial support of the Chicago Children’s Center for Behavioral Health, LISC Chicago and The Norwegian American Hospital.

For more information about “Everyone Matters” and the work of the Behavioral Health Task Force (BHTF) of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness email Juana Ballesteros at juanaballesteros@hotmail.com .

On April 9 the Institute for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) showcased the work of two Puerto Rican filmmakers, Richard Santiago and Jorge “Fish” Rodriguez.

Richard Santiago presented a brief excerpt of a documentary he is making with Rodríguez on Puerto Rico boxers. Before the film was shown, Santiago spoke about the commitment that young Puerto Rican boxers make to their training, “These boxers are like Tibeten monks,” said Santiago. “No drinking, no sex, etc. to prepare for fighting.”

Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez shared a myriad of projects he’s worked on past and present. He showed the music video he directed for Calle 13 for the song AtreveteTe-Te, which won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 2006. Rodríguez worked intently to create a music video that challenged the types of images seen in mainstream hip-hop videos.  The video’s protagonists do not wear massive gold chains and pop bottles of champagne.  The video also calls into question the Americanization of Puerto Rican life by including images of Puerto Rican women wearing blond wigs walking in front of rows of houses painted the same color, reminiscent of Levittown.

Rodríguez did not formally study filmmaking; instead he studied sculpture and specialized in image and design in college.  He relied on on-line tutorials to learn film techniques. Rodríguez became involved in film after a trip he made to Argentina. He was at a bar in a poor neighborhood of Buenos Aires discussing politics and Latin American history with locals. Through that conversation he became aware of South America’s “Dirty War” during which thousands of students, intellectuals, and professionals were targeted by the Argentine government. It was then that he vowed to return to Argentina within a year to create a documentary on the Plaza de Mayo massacre.

During that trip to Argentina, Rodriguez’s consciousness about Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States was fomented. That consciousness- raising experience was artistically transformative. When referring to his art before his trip, Rodriguez’s said, “everything was superficial.”

Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez has also directed the music video for Pasarela by Puerto Rican rapper/singer Dalmata. Rodríguez plans to create a full-length feature film in the future and continues to create films in order “to provoke, to show reality, to talk about what’s happening.”

by Eric López

Eric López

The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) opened a new exhibit entitled “Úteros” by the artist Richard Santiago on Saturday, April 3.

Santiago is a renowned Puerto Rican painter and filmmaker who resides in Puerto Rico and has exhibited work in galleries all over the world.  He has a B.A. in Art from Marist College in New York and an MFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

The artist recently returned to painting, after pursuing film for several years.  His return to this medium coincided with the birth of his son.  Santiago spoke about the symbolic meaning of pregnancy and compared the universe to a womb. He poses that there is a cosmic connection between women and the

universe.

“Úteros” is a collection of over 20 paintings that contrast retrospective pieces from the period before Santiago stopped painting with his most recent work.

The images in Santiago’s paintings range from surrealistic landscapes with human figures to cosmic phenomena like black holes.  Whether using vibrant colors to create abstract representations of space or depicting Puerto Rican peasants from the 1940’s, Santiago’s images are captivating and powerful.

The pieces in this exhibit show sensitivity to and an acute awareness of the intersection and inter-relatedness of the human experience, the universe, art and Puerto Rican historical memory.  “Úteros” can be viewed at IPRAC until June.

Magdaleno Castañeda –

On the eve of Three Kings Day, Humboldt Park witnessed a special visit by Puerto Rican artist, Osvaldo Budet, whose paintings were unveiled at the opening night of “Romantic Political Affair,” an exhibit of the artist’s work at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC). Despite the cold of a typical Chicago winter, dozens of people, including a television camera crew, gathered at IPRAC for an evening of art and appetizers. The exhibit consisted of seven paintings that varied between color and black and white.

Ray Vázquez, president of the IPRAC Board of Directors, welcomed everyone to the opening of the exhibit, which will run until March 5. José E. López, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, introduced Budet and thanked him for his visit, as well as for the mural Budet created at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School. “How do we camouflage through art, messages we want to send about resistance,” was the question López asked the audience in explaining the themes behind Budet’s work.

“There is a duality between comedy and tragedy in Mexican life and cultural expression that resonates with Budet’s art in “Romantic Political Affair,” said López, who made also made connections between Budet’s work to that of Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo. When Budet spoke, he first thanked everyone for attending the exhibit and explained a little about his paintings saying, “I try to make politics more accessible to me and to all through humor.” This humor was visible in the “Where’s Waldo?” characteristic of Budet’s painting, which all include an image of himself. “Humor is a key to deal with anything,” Budet said. Many of his painting combine the humor with political events from the past like the Spanish Civil War as well as the Vietnam War. Budet also emphasized the importance of identity in his work. “The only thing we have is identity and we have to unite to keep our identity and respect other’s identity.”

After his speech, Budet socialized with the crowd and answered the public’s questions regarding his artwork. He also invited everyone to the community workshop and lecture at IPRAC held on January 9. It was great for Budet to have taken time from his busy schedule of studying art in Germany to visit Paseo Boricua. IPRAC was a very fitting place for the “Romantic Political Affair” exhibit because as Budet said, “Here is a place that preserves our culture.”