Our Cultural Center's program on Puerto Rican Studies focuses on topics beyond the performing arts. Lecturers expert in select areas of Puerto Rican culture offer workshops in a wide range of topics including literature, food, history, arts, crafts, sports, and more. Are you an expert on a topic of Puerto Rican culture or history? We are happy to promote your work. Contact us for an opportunity to give a workshop!
Bring your maraca! After the game we'll be heating up our new Ceremonial Mayohucan (http://www.prfdance.org/manayani.htm) with a celebration Areyto to mark our first Taino community event! This event will take place on the lawn outside our Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center, 701 Tillery Street in Austin, and will be free and open to the public.
On February 3rd, 2008 (2-4pm), Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance will offer a workshop on the life of Roberto Clemente. Edwin Baez, our workshop host will be presenting his lifetime collection of Clemente memorabilia. SURPRISE GUEST Zulma Clemente will be sharing personal memories about her Tio (uncle). Edwin will also bring a kit to teach children how to collect and price baseball cards. This event will be FREE and open to the public.
Edwin Baez, a member of the University of Texas Technical Staff, teaches at Dept of Physics and is a die hard Clemente fan! Edwin will be the host of this 2008 Series that will offer workshops by Puerto Rican experts in a wide variety of topics.
This entertaining workshop will present the poetry of Pales, how it spans Afro-Caribbean literature, and what it means to Puerto Ricans. This workshop will be presented in Spanish and English by Puerto Rico's own Tomas Ayala-Torres, creative writer and translator with expertise in World Literature and Poetry.
This two-hour workshop will take place on Sunday, October 9, 2005 from from 2-4pm at the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center. Admission is $5, but FREE to current Cultural Center student/participants and FREE to PRFDance Familia Members! PLEASE RSVP - seating is limited.
The Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center will feature
Puerto Rican artist Lucy Llera in our next Workshop on Puerto Rican
Studies. This workshop will display her artwork rich in Puerto Rican
cultural themes and provide a hands-on art project for children.
Lucy will also be bringing beautiful examples of carnival masks from
Puerto Rico and teach us about their history. Her arts
and crafts project will teach children how to make a vejigante mask
of their very own to take home. Something fun for every age!
This two-hour art showing and vejigante mask workshop will take place on Saturday, January 31, from 1-3pm at the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center. Admission is FREE to current Cultural Center students and participants! Donations from visitors appreciated.
Please register by email (dance@prfdance.org) or phone (512-251-8122) by January 25 to help estimate craft materials and refreshments. The Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center is located at 507B Pressler Street in Austin Texas (between MOPAC & Lamar, off 5th). Here's a FLYER for this event.
Biography - Lucy Llera
Lucy Llera was born in Cayey, Puerto Rico. She
received her bachelors degree in art and education
from
the University of Puerto Rico, and was an art
teacher for over 13 years in Cidra. In 1982 she
moved to Texas where she studied art at the
University of Texas at San Antonio. Afterwards she
continued her teaching career in bilingual
education,
for which she has received awards. From 1984-93,
Lucy
studied painting with Warren Hunter, a respected
artist in
San Antonio, and later with Daniel Green and
Dalhart Wingberg. She is a member of the Water
Color Society,
the Calligraphy Guild, and the Coppini Academy of
Fine
Arts. In Coppini, she received awards such as
Artist of the Month and 2nd prize in oil painting.
Since 1986 she has been a member of Sociedad
Herencia Puertorriquena, a San-Antonio based Puerto
Rican cultural organization, for whom she has created
cultural-themed posters for their annual festivals.
The Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center will host Dr. Daisy Diaz-Alemany who will present an entertaining and historical lecture on the evolution of Puerto Rican food through 500 years of history, discovery to present time. This two-hour workshop will take us on a culinary journey through the three major ethnic influences of Puerto Rican culture -- native Taino, African, and European heritage.
This workshop takes place on Saturday, June 1, 2002, from 1-3pm
at the Austin Community College campus at Rio Grande in
Room 343 on the 3rd Floor.
This cost is $7, which covers refreshments and class materials.
Early registration by email (dance@prfdance.org) before May 15th will help estimate class materials and refreshments. ACC's Rio Grand Campus is located at 1212 Rio Grande Street in Austin (corner with 12th Street). See map for directions - http://www3.austin.cc.tx.us/evpcss/rgc/map.htm
Biography - Dr. Daisy Diaz-Alemany
Dr. Daisy Diaz-Alemany is a Puerto Rican who has a profound
and abiding love for everything culinary, and is a serious
student of the relationship between food and culture in
different countries. She has a Ph.D. from UT-Austin in
Human Resources Development, and is a Licensed Professional
Counselor (LPC).
Mercedes Cruz-Gonzalez is an internationally recognized Puerto Rican poet who
has performed her poetry all over the world. This two-hour workshop will
include readings (in spanish) from her published work, "El Coqui,"
as well as exercises on creating poetry.
| When: | Saturday, Sept 22, 3-5pm |
| Where: | Austin Community College campus at
The Highland Business Center 5930 Middle Fiskville Rd. See map - http://www3.austin.cc.tx.us/evpcss/hbc/map.htm |
| Room: | 4th Floor, room 411 |
| Cost: | $3 to cover refreshments and class materials |
| To Register: | dance@prfdance.org or 512-251-8122 |
Please register - classroom seating is limited. This workshop is supported in part by the AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS.
Biography - Mercedes Cruz-Gonzalez
Born in Puerto Rico, Mercedes Cruz-Gonzalez is an internationally recognized poet. She has performed her
poems in Tailandia, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Columbia, Panama and other countries. In Costa Rica she directed a
radio program under the auspices of UNESCO. Mercedes is also a song writer, actress and journalist, and has
worked in radio, theatre and film. Her songs have been interpreted by Enrique, winner of the Premio OTI of
San Antonio, by Tejana singer Silvia Sol, pianist Paco Paco, and Tony Croatto, famous trovador of Puerto Rican
music. In 1995, the National Hispanic Honor Society of the Southwest
Texas State University (San Marcos) dedicated their edition of "Al Principio" to her work as a poet,
composer and journalist, and for her contributions to hispanic culture.