The five projects selected for “En Foco: Proyecto de visibilización cultural” will amplify particular areas of the Puerto Rican arts and culture sector that need more visibility, including communities and non-traditional art formats that are usually underrepresented
San Juan, Puerto Rico (June 1, 2023) – The Flamboyan Foundation’s Arts Fund announced today the proposals selected for “En Foco: Proyecto de Visibilización Cultural,” a grant to create projects and initiatives aimed at amplifying Puerto Rican arts and culture.
Grantees of the “En Foco” program were chosen through a participatory grantmaking process which put decision-making into the hands of the artistic community. Specifically, the selected projects will amplify particular areas of the Puerto Rican arts and culture sector that need more visibility, including communities and non-traditional art formats that are usually underrepresented, like LGBTQ+ and Afro art in Puerto Rico. Donating in this way is at the heart of Flamboyan’s commitment to equity and belonging.
In total, 119 proposals were received, of which five were selected. Each will receive $100,000 up front to develop their projects. The selected proposals are:
- Alliance of Museums of Puerto Rico: Project to build and highlight a decolonial and anti-racist narrative through Afro-art within the museums’ social and cultural spaces.
- Art Students League of San Juan: Revive the cultural magazine Plástica in a digital format to celebrate the work of the plastic artists in Puerto Rico and the diaspora while also serving as a forum for art criticism and analysis.
- Association of Documentarians of Puerto Rico: Initiative to facilitate the access, circulation, exhibition, and consumption of Puerto Rican documentaries in the archipelago and international forums.
- Puerto Rican Alliance for the Arts: (Paseo Cultural) Development of a weekly television program to share the rich art and culture of Puerto Rico and to highlight local artistic activities across the island.
- Puerto Rico Queer Filmfest: Build and amplify the experiences and cultural contributions of the pioneering and aging LGBTQI+ community through documentary interviews.
The participatory grant-making model was staffed by grantees from the Flamboyan Arts Fund. These artists designed each aspect of the process, starting with the purpose of the funds. From the onset, reviewers identified the need to amplify the artistic and cultural ecosystem of Puerto Rico as the main priority for the funds and established the general parameters that guided the open call. A steering committee was formed, which evaluated the proposals and selected the new grantees. From conception to implementation, every step was developed and implemented by artists to support other artists.
“We received a large number of proposals, which demonstrates the commitment that exists between artists and cultural managers to strengthen and preserve this sector. The process for choosing the selected proposals was highly competitive. The Flamboyan Arts Fund is proud to create opportunities that empower the arts and culture in Puerto Rico and allows the sector to grow,” said Carlos Rodríguez Silvestre, Executive Director of the Flamboyan Foundation in Puerto Rico.
Flamboyan Foundation is grateful to the Ford Foundation for providing financial support to this initiative so that together we can continue to preserve, amplify and strengthen the arts sector in Puerto Rico.
Rocío Aranda Alvarado, program officer for Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation, shared that “we are excited to support the work of Flamboyan Foundation. The vision for this initiative is aligned with our mission to address the needs of those most impacted by inequality and to strengthen the pathways to bring more diverse storytelling into our communities.”
For the grantees, receiving these funds means the opportunity to shine a light on usually underrepresented areas of the Puerto Rican arts and culture sector.
“The organizations and artists that make up this great network (of the Puerto Rican Alliance for the Arts), work together to strengthen the arts and culture in Puerto Rico. “Paseo Cultural” will be key to highlighting the diversity and richness of our cultural work. Our sincere thanks to Flamboyan Foundation for their generous support of our project”, said María del Carmen Gil, president of the Puerto Rican Alliance for the Arts).
“En Foco: Proyecto de Visibilización Cultural” represents a new way of doing philanthropy in Puerto Rico and Flamboyan Foundation is eager to share what it has learned from this process.
For more information about the selected proposals, visit www.flamboyanfoundation.org/es/enfoco.
###
En Foco’s Steering Committee members:
Guarionex Morales Matos, Corporación GD & E Orfeón San Juan Bautista
Orfeón San Juan Bautista is a professional ensemble with a mission to enrich choral art in Puerto Rico through educational and cultural activities that include, but are not necessarily limited to: concerts for the general public, educational programs, recordings, and illustrated talks.
Hilda Marchena Segura, Mauro, Inc.
Mauro Inc. promotes the creation and production of all kinds of experiences and scenic works, in order to provide new life opportunities, involving the less fortunate and the general public, in art and culture. This through its Art for All and Mauro School of Dance programs, where dance, theater, music, cinematography and art classes are offered and the ballet companies Mauro Ballet and Mauro Youth Ballet Company.
Karen Cana Cruz, Museo Biblioteca La Casa del Libro (LCDL)
La Casa del Libro Museum Library is where the written word and the book are worshiped as an art object. They hold the largest and most important collection of rare books in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, which they conserve, preserve, study, and interpret with the purpose of inspiring and enriching the Puerto Rican and international communities. They make accessible their extraordinary collection through a dynamic cultural and educational program aimed at diverse audiences and supported by different artistic expressions.
Madeline Ramírez Rivera, Comunicaciones 24.7
Comunicaciones 24/7 is a microenterprise founded in 2015 to offer communication services to non-profit and community-based entities with an emphasis on those that do not have the resources and technical capabilities to amplify the impacts of their efforts in favor of the better well-being of the country. Among other services, it offers advice on the conceptualization and implementation of communication strategies aimed at the attention and management of public/governmental affairs, crisis attention and management, relations with the press, relations with the community, drafting of documents, internal communication, analysis media, among others.
Néstor Murray Irizarry, Centro de Investigaciones Folklóricas de Puerto Rico
The mission of this organization is to carry out scientific research on Puerto Rican culture and its humanistic and socio-economic aspects. Centro de Investigaciones Folklóricas de Puerto Rico conducts conferences, workshops, and other gatherings for student and community members. At the historic Casa Paoli, the organization also maintains permanent exhibitions dedicated to African heritage, traditional Puerto Rican musical instruments, and the singer Antonio Paoli.
Pablo Guardiola, Beta-Local, Inc.
Beta Local is an artist-run non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting critical thought and aesthetic practices in Puerto Rico through programs that foster knowledge exchange and trans-disciplinary collaboration.
Sylvia Lleras, Mujeres de Islas, Inc.
Mujeres de Islas promotes the emotional health, cultural, environmental and socioeconomic development of Culebra through programming that is driven by community needs.
Yari Helfeld, Arte y Maña
Arte y Maña, Inc. is a non-profit entity whose mission is to provide art tools that promote social welfare, solidarity, leadership and self-management. Among its most recent cultural activities is the creation of the Fiesta Centinela 2021 and 2022 community festival, in Orocovis; the creation and implementation of the university course Creativity and Community, for students of the University of Florida; the realization of more than 100 creative workshops in communities of the Municipality of San Juan; the theatrical tour of 20 public schools on the Island; and his annual series of drama workshops for public school youth.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
About the Flamboyan Foundation
Guided by the belief that all children deserve the opportunity to live a fulfilling life, the Flamboyan Foundation works to ensure that every child in the US and Puerto Rico receives an outstanding education. In D.C., Flamboyan accelerates student learning by helping educators and school systems transform their relationships with families. In Puerto Rico, Flamboyan is ensuring students are reading in Spanish on grade level by third grade while building a thriving philanthropic and nonprofit sector, which includes arts and cultural organizations. http://www.flamboyanfoundation.org
About the Flamboyan Arts Fund
The Flamboyan Arts Fund is a partnership between Flamboyan Foundation, Lin-Manuel Miranda, his family, and the Broadway musical Hamilton to preserve, amplify, and sustain the arts in Puerto Rico. Since Hurricane María devastated the island last year, many artists and arts organizations like museums, theaters, arts education programs, and music venues are at risk of cutting back services or closing. The fund supports all facets of the arts community, including music, theater, visual arts, dance, literature, and youth arts education, to ensure that the arts and culture continue to flourish during the rebuilding of Puerto Rico.
About the Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and ten regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. https://www.fordfoundation.org/