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Cultural Centers
The first time that Harbani, Marc and I went "hunting" for the Dominican Foundation Culturarte of New York we walked right passed the entrance. That’s right, we completely missed the stop. We had expected it to be somewhat grandiose, considering the ostentatious, eye-grabbing nature of most art-related sites. Instead, the entrance was as narrow as your average bedroom door. Nonetheless what the institution lacks in appearance, it compensates in its heartwarming mission.
About CULTURARTE
The Dominican Foundation Culturarte of New York was founded in June 20th, 2001 by Dr. Jorge Piña, a psychotherapist and poet, and his wife, visual artist and poet, Karina Rieke. Culturarte is an organization that promotes afterschool participation and education in the arts, which it believes builds strong character, virtue and leadership skills.
Culturarte seeks to promote not only Dominican culture but also Latino (including South and Central American) and Afro-Caribbean heritage. Culturarte helps reduce the likelihood that first and second generation Dominicans will downwardly assimilate to the marginalized segments of American society and adopt their oppositional stances by preventing violence, drug abuse, low educational attainment, poverty and other issues affecting the Dominican community.
The Center’s School of the Arts, taught by professors from the Julliard School and real practicing artists, offers weekly classes and seminars on music, dance, theater, painting, film, photography, poetry, creative writing, journalism, literature and to my surprise, even karate! Dr. Piña says, “we also help them out to be licensed in the United States.” He adds, “the School of Journalism for adults is a one-year and half program where we give a certificate from a branch of this institute in the Dominican Republic. Lately we have established a program called Juntos Con Vecinos (neighbors). As a result, a lot of musicians are coming to Washington Heights.”
Furthermore, there is the preventive art program, which seeks to prevent pregnancy through art. Below is a table comparing the pregnancy rates of women under twenty years old in Washington Heights compared to those of New York City. The percent of women in Washington Heights-Inwood under 20 years of age giving birth is substantially higher when compared to those of New York City (13% vs. 8.6%)
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us
“We need to have space where artists can bring their art…belong together and then promote the greater culture.” – Dr. Piña
Sources of Funding
Despite the economic recession, Dr. Piña remains optimistic about the financial status of the organization and its ability to continue its services because of the amount of social capital available to the Dominican community from the ethnic enclaves themselves (Washington Heights-Inwood), private organizations, international organizations and New York City and New York State.
• Department of Youth and Community Development
• Interboro Institute
• Internacional Metapoetry Movement
• Dominican Foundation for Psychoanalysis,
• Linopress: The Power of Printing in New York
• Washington Heights BID: Business Improvement District
• Community Board 12 of Washington Heights-Inwood
• Asociación de Dominicanos Progresistas ACDP
• Hispanic Analytic Study Association
• Fundación Comunitaria Dominicana Inc.
• Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD)
• NYS Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
• NY Presbyterian Columbian-Cornell Hospital: Community Health and Outreach
• Dominican Council of the Arts (CODARTES)
• NYSCA: New York Council on the Arts
• DCA: Department of Cultural Affairs
• UMEZ: Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone
• Health First
• Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations
Dr. Piña feels that enriching students in different ways of expressions will better the Dominican community and goes about his job driven by “el pasión".
Works Cited
Dominican Culurarte of New York. 15 Dec 2008. Culturarte. 20 April 2009 http://culturarteny.com.