¡MERENGUE! VISUAL RHYTHMS/RITMOS VISUALES EXHIBIT

We are pleased to announce two special events in the final weeks of ¡Merengue! Visual Rhythms/Ritmos Visuales, a major traveling exhibition featuring more than forty works by twenty-eight historical and contemporary artists from the Dominican Republic for its only New England stop at the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists.   The paintings in Merengue visualize merengue music a seminal cultural force in the Dominican Republic.

Sunday, November 2, 3pm – 5pm
Merengue Tertulia (talk with Q & A) with special guest Cesar Sanchez-Beras, Merengue Historian.

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Cesar has published the following poetry collections in Spanish: Comenzó a Llenarse de Pájaros el Sueño (1999); Días de carne (2004); Sapito azul (2004), among others.  He has also published two volumes in Spanish/English format: Trovas del Mar/Troves of the Sea (2002) and El Sapito Azul / The Little Blue Frog (2004)).  Mr. Beras has earned various awards and recognition both in Boston and in the Dominican Republic.  He has also been a cultural activist and cultural journalist for various newspapers and magazines published in Massachusetts. From 1996 to 2000, he held the honorary post of Cultural Adviser to the Dominican Consulate in Boston.

 
Friday, November 7, 6-8:30

Screening of CUNY/Hostos Community College study abroad documentary film, Dominican Identity and Migrations to Hispaniola with Q & A by Néstor Montilla, producer and researcher.  The film illustrates the unique cultural diversity of the Dominican Republic and was produced via the Common Roots Project (CRP), a research initiative aimed at documenting the presence and contributions of the different migratory groups that have historically settled in Caribbean, Latin American and other world countries.

This film documentary has inspired several community based initiatives including the publication of a book that covers the same grounds as the film; the book, titled Migrations, Identities and Culture in the Dominican Republic, is the work of Dr. Irma Nicasio and Dr. Odalis Perez from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo.

Néstor Montilla, Sr. is currently the Director of Public Relations of Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of The City University of New York (CUNY).  He is also a Member of the National Board of Directors of the Dominican American National Roundtable (DARN) and Co-Chairman of the DANR National Conference, the only conference in the United States that brings together Dominicans from around the country under one roof for the purpose of discussing community empowerment and leadership.

Both events take place at the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, 300 Walnut Ave. in Roxbury.