Episode 61: 50 years of Promoting Afro-Latin Arts & Culture in Chicago

Paseo Podcast: Sharing Puerto Rican Stories

On today’s show we welcome the Executive Director of the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, Omar Torres Kortright. The cultural center is the longest serving Latinx cultural center in Chicago and this year they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary, so we invited Omar on the show to talk about the center’s namesake, what initiated its founding in the 1970s - hint the Young Lords played a role - and how they plan to celebrate and serve Chicago for another 50 years.

We also welcome author and poet, Luis Tubens, as well as dancer and choreographer, María Luisa-Torres. Maria and Luis are the creators of a production called Raíces to Roots, which will have a number of showings in the coming weeks at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center as part of the 50th anniversary celebration. We’re going to talk about their production, what they want people to take away after experiencing it and what partnering with the cultural center today means for them.

Host, Joshua Smyser-DeLeon's Twitter ★ https://twitter.com/jsdeleon

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★ About Our Guest(s) ★

SRBCC Website ★ http://segundoruizbelvis.org/?fbclid=IwAR0kgqwCJhucNR_X915c-fErdbccVQ_8s7hf6Yr9mpZSYIISIwXzBnYezgk

Raíces to Roots Facebook Page ★ https://www.facebook.com/Raicestoroots

Raíces to Roots Upcoming Events ★ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/raices-to-roots-tickets-153393336599

★ Partners + Additional Credits ★

Chicago Public Library Paseo Podcast Discussion Group ★ https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/events/search/q=paseo%20podcast

Puerto Rican Cultural Center Website ★ https://prcc-chgo.org

CIMA ★ https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/independent-media-alliance-about-cima/Content?oid=82156315

Sounds ★ MEINL Percussion

Production Assistant, Richie Requena Twitter ★ https://twitter.com/RichieRequena

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