Showing posts with label clementesotovelezculturalandeducationalcenter puertorican latino culture newyorkcity lowereastside. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clementesotovelezculturalandeducationalcenter puertorican latino culture newyorkcity lowereastside. Show all posts

Friday, March 19, 2010

Puerto Rican/Latino & Multicultural Arts Center Directors Respond to Rumors about Name Change

In the mailbox

Cultural Center's History to be PRESERVED

The Board of Directors as well as the Management of the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center in the Lower East Side are proud stewards of a Puerto Rican/Latino multi-cultural center and are tremendously committed to the Center's name and identity as the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center.
Clemente Soto Vélez (1905-1993) was a Puerto Rican poet, a nationalist, and a community activist in New York. He mentored many generations of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Puerto Rico and New York. The Center stands by his name and is assiduously working to enhance the scope of its programming, including artist mentoring and community programming among Puerto Ricans, Latinos and the New York community.
Recently an unsubstantiated rumor has been circulating that the board of this Puerto Rican Center for the arts is seeking to erase the history of the Puerto Rican struggle and specifically trying to erase the poetry of Clemente Soto Vélez, a Puerto Rican icon in New York. On the contrary, the Board of the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center has a mandate to preserve the history of the Puerto Rican struggle and actively treasures and promotes, and always will, the life and art of Clemente Soto Vélez.

source: statement from the Clemente center