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Puerto Rican Flag Community Conversation, 2003

Subject Frederico Cintron

Subject Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez (Puerto Rican)

Subject Victor Pacheco (Puerto Rican)

Subject Evelyn Mantilla

Subject Julio Morales

Subject Ilka Robles (Puerto Rican, born 1953)

Subject Jaran Manzanet

Date2003 July 24

Mediumreformatted digital file from VHS tape

DimensionsDuration: 1 Hours, 29 Minutes, 44 Seconds

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

CopyrightIn Copyright

Object number2015.196.680a-b

DescriptionVHS tape of a Community Conversation event discussing the meaning of the Puerto Rican flag held at the ICR Gallery in Hartford, Connecticut on July 24, 2003. Federico Cintron and Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez served as moderators. Victor Pacheco, Evelyn Mantilla, Julio Morales, Ilka Robles, and Jaran Manzanet served as the panelists.

The program was held in conjunction with the "¡Que Bonita Bandera!: The Puerto Rican Flag in Folk Art" exhibition.

NotesSubject Note: The exhibition, "¡Que Bonita Bandera!: The Puerto Rican Flag in Folk Art" was on display at the Institute for Community Research Gallery in Hartford from July 10 to September 12, 2003. Featuring depictions of the beloved flag image in a variety of folk art forms, the multimedia exhibit included musical instruments, mundillo lace, paintings, masks, posters, murals, and clothing. The powerful symbol of the flag, and its ability to identify and uplift the Puerto Rican community, inspired the exhibit and associated programming. The opening event featured música típica, bomba dance, and Taino music to illustrate the three cultural strands in Puerto Rico. The project’s goal was to use art to inform audiences about the vibrant cultural expressions and the values of Puerto Rican neighbors in Hartford and Connecticut.

CCHAP convened a local advisory team for the project: Alfred Rivera of the music group Amor y Cultura, Joel Sanchez of SINA, Josè Rodriguez of the Hartford Economic Development Commission, Kelvin Roldan of the Mayor’s Office, Ana Alfaro of Northeast Utilities, Calixto Torres of the Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum, student Yedalis Ruiz, and artists Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez, Victor Pacheco, Glaisma Pérez Silva, Ilka Robles, Hector Vallines, and Felix Delgado. In addition to their planning advice, team members were actively involved in helping with exhibit installation, promotional materials design and distribution, public relations, and performances.

The exhibit was developed and circulated by City Lore, a longstanding community arts organization in New York City whose mission is to foster New York’s and America’s living cultural heritage. Curated by folklorist Elena Martinez and artist George Zavala, "¡Que Bonita Bandera!" opened at the Hostos Center for Arts and Culture at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. After the Hartford showing - the only New England venue - the exhibit traveled to the New Jersey Historical Society and the New York Historical Society. Original funding for the exhibit came from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Scherman Foundation, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. ICR’s Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collaborated with City Lore in the planning and scheduling of "¡Que Bonita Bandera!" from the beginning of the project. Hartford project funders are the Institute for Community Research, the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the City of Hartford, Connecticut Light and Power Co., the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The exhibit featured traditional Puerto Rican mundillo lace, carnival vejigante masks, photographs and samples of murals and urban memorial wall art, and assemblages that use the imagery of the flag in public parades and festivals as well as private spaces and altars in the home. Framed photographs by Martha Cooper and Carlos Ortíz depicted contemporary urban expressions of the flag symbol, and black and white framed photographs from the CUNY Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños documented historical contexts and uses of the flag. Further information on Puerto Rican history was provided through bilingual signage and a video.

In addition to the art included with the exhibit, CCHAP added Connecticut-based artists’ depictions of the flag in photographs by Juan Fuentes; in a poster by master printmaker Samuel Lind for the New Haven Puerto Rican Day Parade; on cuatros made by Edwin Rios and Graciela Quiñones-Rodriquez, ceramics by Victor Pacheco, cakes decorated with the flag design, car decorations, and other local folk and popular art works. CCHAP augmented the signage, in English and Spanish. CCHAP produced a banner for the exhibit, with an image of artist Victor Pacheco’s mural from Park Street, and this was hung on the side of our building facing Wyllys Street.

During the exhibit CCHAP presented three additional events. A discussion of the meaning of the Puerto Rican flag was held on July 24 with Moderators Frederico Cintron and Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez, and Panelists Victor Pacheco, Evelyn Mantilla, Julio Morales, Ilka Robles, and Jaran Manzanet (Bronx -based Puerto Rican boxer and activist). On August 7 a bilingual poetry reading was held with two Hartford-based Puerto Rican poets who are both eminent literary figures and community activists: Glaisma Perez Silva from New Britain, and jibaro (folk) poet Isabel Osorio. Four educational groups came to view the exhibit and hear talks by curator Lynne Williamson and educator Ilka Robles: Yo Hartford Summer Program, Pathways Senderos Youth Program, Dept. of Children and Families Orientation Program for New Staff, and Dutch Point Boys and Girls Club Summer Youth Program. With musician Alfred Rivera, CCHAP produced a Concurso de Trovadores Competition and Concert on September 27, 2003 at St. Anne - Immaculate Conception, 820 Park Street, Hartford.

During the forum on the meaning of the Puerto Rican flag, several audience members commented on the lack of programs and projects in the Greater Hartford that educate both youth and adults on topics related to Puerto Rican history. The speakers emphasized the importance of events such as the exhibit to provide in-depth connections to heritage and history. The exhibit encouraged visitors to think about issues of identity and self-expression. This is rare in Hartford.

The use and meaning of the Puerto Rican flag can be understood as a folk tradition in the way that both handmade and mass-produced items depicting the flag signify shared values and group beliefs, and express political and cultural identity. In addition to its interesting political history going back to the time of Spanish control of the island, the flag today reminds Puerto Ricans living on the mainland of their roots on the island. Particularly during the Puerto Rican Day Parades, T-shirts and bandanas are not only emblazoned with the flag but whole arrangements of flag designs transform people, cars, bicycles, and baby strollers into mobile works of community-based art. The exhibit also included music in both ambient sound and featured special performances, because it is one of the most significant ways Puerto Ricans of all generations have defined, shared, and retained their culture.

Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this project.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

Status

Not on view