NICODA’s Vibrant Festival of Diversity

How We Are Connected – The Caribbean

Only 2 more performances

FREE!

Brooklyn Museum
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2:30 p.m.

P.S. 69, Queens
Sunday, Nov. 4, 3:00 p.m.
FREE!

Come and celebrate
HOW WE ARE CONNECTED

“… a skillful weaving of song, dance and dramatic performances.”
– CaribNews Review

“… we are all more closely related genetically than we expected!”
– NY Daily News

Platinum Sponsor ($200):
program listing, meet the cast for a backstage toast.

Gold Sponsor ($100):
program listing, photo op with a cast member.

Silver Sponsor ($60):
program listing, card signed by cast suitable for framing.

Bronze Sponsor ($40): program listing.

HOW WE ARE CONNECTED

Click DONATE to make a secure, tax deductible donation

How We Are Connected – The Carribean

A Special Collaboration with:

El Museo del Barrio

Brooklyn Museum

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. (Partially developed with LPAC Lab Grant).

PERFORMANCE DATES:
7pm Sept 28, LaGuardia (LPAC)
8pm, Oct 13, El Museo del Barrio
2:30pm, Oct 20, Brooklyn Museum
3pm, Nov 4, PS. 69 (Queens)

Register here: HOW WE ARE CONNECTED – The Caribbean

As the founder of NICODA, I am honored to be able to welcome the public to four theatrical performances of HOW WE ARE CONNECTED – The Caribbean. This is the first project in a six year series of programs that engages our audiences and the public in this very important discussion about who we are and how we relate to others in the world.

In order to continue to provide these and other programs that not only tell the story of the collective human journey, but heighten the dialogue about multiculturalism and diversity, we need your financial help. Join us on this journey and show your support.

$200 highlights you as a Platinum Sponsor; $100 highlights you in our Gold category; $50 names you as Silver and $20 names you as a Bronze sponsor. Click DONATE TO NICODA NOW to make a secure tax deductible donation to the organization.

You may also mail a check to NICODA, 107-23 71st Road, #103, Forest Hills, NY 11375, payable to our fiscal sponsor, NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts).

Help us enlarge this discussion about diversity and multiculturalism. All supporters will be named in a special section on our website each year, unless you indicate otherwise.

All performances of HOW WE ARE CONNECTED – The Caribbean are FREE TO THE PUBLIC. We highly recommend registering early to secure your seat. To register, click HOW WE ARE CONNECTED – The Caribbean

How We Are Connected – The Caribbean

Inspired by National Geographic’s Genographic Project

HOW WE ARE CONNECTED The Caribbean

Special Collaboration with El Museo del Barrio & Brooklyn Museum.

Cast Members On BronxNet TV

Early registration highly recommended. Click:
HOW WE ARE CONNECTED – The Caribbean to register.

Come experience theater that tells the story of the human journey. This is a theatrical adventure fusing family lore, cultural mythology and scientific revelations about human migration and genealogy.

Members of the cast participated in a DNA test with the Genographic Project, tracing their ancestral histories back over 50,000 years.

Our director facilitated a two month development process, working with writers and actors to explore facts, fantasies, dreams and possibilities about their ancestral heritage. The stories that emerged from these workshops, and later the results of DNA tests and our collective conversations about them, highlight HOW WE ARE CONNECTED.

All performances FREE TO THE PUBLIC. We highly recommend registering early to secure your seat. To register, click HOW WE ARE CONNECTED – The Caribbean

Preview at the Brooklyn Museum

Cast includes actors, musicians and dancers of multiple cultures & origins asking and answering questions about heritage and exploring their collective journey from the fertile crescent to the Caribbean Basin.

Program Created by Raquel Miller
Conceived and Directed by Ari Laura Kreith
Written by Jenny Lyn Bader & J.Stephen Brantley

Featuring and developed with Gousy Celestin, Marie Davis, Marcelino Feliciano, Lena Marie Gilbert, Maribel Martinez, Greer Morrison, Sorely Muentes, Luis Paulino, Vanessa Miriam Rodriguez, Edney Romeo, Stephanie Shipp, Ricardo Valentin & Petol Weekes.

Stage Manager: Xiaopo Wang
Set Designer: Jen Varbalow
Technical Director: Ross DeGraw
Costume Designer: Marty Pavatea

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A Note From Raquel Miller, Founder:

We are pleased to be able to provide free programs that are educational and provocative and to be able to do so on a performing arts platform.

Our goal is to continue engaging our audiences and the public in this very important discussion about who we are at a fundamental level and how we engage with and consider others in the world. Help us enlarge this discussion about diversity. Click DONATE TO NICODA NOW to make a tax deductible donation to the organization.

“How We Are Connected” A NICODA Presentation in Development

NICODA Presents

“How We Are Connected”

Tickets: $10 Suggested Donation

Music
Dance
Drama

This is a theatrical production in development
& Panel discussion with the artists and creators.

ONE NIGHT ONLY: Friday, Nov 4th & at 7pm
at The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York

Inspired by National Geographic’s The Genographic Project, NICODA is developing an artistic response, which will show how world cultures and peoples are connected.  This is a 6 year program, which will begin in Fall 2012,  in collaboration with many diverse arts organizations and embracing the theme of ‘How We Are Connected.’

NICODA is The New International Center of Diverse Artists
and we believe that cultures should speak to each other

Tickets: $10 Suggested Donation
Limited Seating.  Get Your Tickets Early.

Attend This Wonderful Event & Join Our Journey.  Aspire!

NICODA Biweekly Newsletter: How We Are Connected 3

The New International Center of Diverse Artists Presents
An International Festival Exploring the Cultural DNA of Performing Arts

“HOW WE ARE CONNECTED”

This is the first festival of its kind to come to New York. Its theme was inspired by a National Geographic program titled: ‘The Genographic Project‘. Using the arts, we will help compass the depth of human connections. Expect The Unexpected in three days of electrifying performances. A must see event. Surprising!

We are excited about the possibilities of partnering with Center Stage, The Hip Hop Hall of Fame and The NAMMY’s (Native American Music Awards) to present fabulous performances by 50 celebrated artists. The festival premiers late summer, 2011.

“HOW WE ARE CONNECTED”
is just one of the programs that NICODA is presenting this year. We have a planned series of events that inspire artistic collaborations between cultures, while encouraging artists to reach inside and touch their own unique vision of self and art.

WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Join NICODA. Aspire. be.

Tax deductible donations are accepted through our fiscal sponsor, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Make checks payable to NYFA, but be sure to write NICODA in the memo section.

Mail Checks To:
NICODA
107-23 71st Road, Suite 103
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Email: connect@nicoda.org

NICODA Biweekly Newsletter: How We Are Connected 2

At NICODA, we believe that cultures should speak to each other. This is the belief that drives our mission to excite artistic collaborations between cultures and foster diversity in the arts. Mark your calendar for our International Performing Arts Festival in August, titled, How We Are Connected. We are excited about the possibilities of partnering with Center Stage, The Hip Hop Hall of Fame and The NAMMY’s (Native American Music Awards) to present fabulous performances by 50 celebrated artists. This is the first festival of its kind to come to New York. The theme was derived from aNational Geographic program titled: ‘The Genographic Project‘. Using the arts, we will help compass the depth of human connections. Expect The Unexpected in three days of electrifying performances. A must see event with surprising performances. “HOW WE ARE CONNECTED” is a three day festival, which explores the cultural DNA of performing arts, and concludes with an awards ceremony, highlighting the festival’s most distinguished performers. VisitNICODA for more information. WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT Join NICODA. Aspire. be. Tax deductible donations are accepted through our fiscal sponsor, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). Make checks payable to NYFA, but be sure to write NICODA in the memo section. Mail Checks To: NICODA 107-23 71st Road, Suite 103 Forest Hills, NY 11375 Email: connect@nicoda.org

NICODA Meets the Mayor

Immigrant Voices was a brilliant success! Thanks to the wonderful line-up of artists, volunteers and a great audience for making it such a special event. It was wonderful to see such an ethnically diverse group of artists from all areas of performing arts on the NICODA stage. The media is responding wonderfully with radio, television, and newspaper interviews about the organization's unique programs and opportunities. NICODA is indeed The New International Center of Diverse Artists. We welcome your well-wishing! WHAT'S NEXT?

Raquel Miller, NICODA's founder, recently had the opportunity to be a Guest Speaker at a business success seminar produced by Kiwanis International and held at The West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. She spoke about founding and growing the NICODA organization in a troubled economy, as well the innovative and unique strategies used in making the organization a success. Artists, email info@nicoda.org for opportunities. No less than New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is impressed by NICODA's outlook and expressed his enthusiasm in a conversation with Raquel, resulting in a meeting between NICODA and The Commissioner of New York's Dept of Cultural Affairs. Many opportunities for artists will result from this meeting.

NICODA Brings Culturally Diverse Artists into New York's Classrooms With budgets strained, many schools are in need of assistance maintaining arts education. To fill this need, NICODA is partnering with various schools to help provide an avenue to the arts by introducing students to rare instruments, unique performance styles and lectures on the performance traditions of other cultures. Students are then encouraged to explore their own unique style of art in a performance held at the end of the school year. If you are interested in participating, please email info@nicoda.org

NICODA Meets the Mayor

Immigrant Voices was a brilliant success! Thanks to the wonderful line-up of artists, volunteers and a great audience for making it such a special event. It was wonderful to see such an ethnically diverse group of artists from all areas of performing arts on the NICODA stage. The media is responding wonderfully with radio, television, and newspaper interviews about the organization's unique programs and opportunities. NICODA is indeed The New International Center of Diverse Artists. We welcome your well-wishing! WHAT'S NEXT? Raquel Miller, NICODA's founder, recently had the opportunity to be a Guest Speaker at a business success seminar produced by Kiwanis International and held at The West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. She spoke about founding and growing the NICODA organization in a troubled economy, as well the innovative and unique strategies used in making the organization a success. Artists, email info@nicoda.org for opportunities. No less than New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is impressed by NICODA's outlook and expressed his enthusiasm in a conversation with Raquel, resulting in a meeting between NICODA and The Commissioner of New York's Dept of Cultural Affairs. Many opportunities for artists will result from this meeting. NICODA Brings Culturally Diverse Artists into New York's Classrooms With budgets strained, many schools are in need of assistance maintaining arts education. To fill this need, NICODA is partnering with various schools to help provide an avenue to the arts by introducing students to rare instruments, unique performance styles and lectures on the performance traditions of other cultures. Students are then encouraged to explore their own unique style of art in a performance held at the end of the school year. If you are interested in participating, please email info@nicoda.org ©2010 NICODA | 11375

Travel the World in a Weekend

Immigrant Voices starts tonight! Don’t miss out on a weekend of live music, dancing, art and theater from a diverse group of artists and performers. Come celebrate the diversity and art of New York City–the only place where you can travel the world in a weekend. Some tickets still available here.

Cuerdas Internacionales Evan Schwam Duo Featuring Nick Demopoulos Makeda Griffith

Just a Few of the Exciting Performers at Immigrant Voices

Cuerdas Internacionales plays la musica llanera, the traditional folk music of Colombia and Venezuela. With Johan Alejandro Vizcaino, a harpist from the Queens College Orchestra and a graduate of the Fiorello Laguardia High School for the Arts and the Performing Arts and Aaron Copland School of Music; Juan E. Hernández, a bass player from the Jose Angel Lamas Conservatory in Caracas; singer and cuarto player German Roso, a graduate of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and winner of the best singer award at El Festival Internacional de Villavicencio; and Victor Andres Cruz, a cuatro player and graduate of the Berklee College of Music.

Evan Schwam, Duo, Featuring Nick Demopoulos plays MAUM Musical compositions by Woo Myung, Founder of Maum Meditation. Woo Myung founded Maum Meditation and was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award by the United Nations International Assoc. of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP). Inspired by Maum Meditation, Evan and Nick play the music composed by founder Woo Myung. They add their personal flavor, combining eastern melodies with modern jazz improvisation and rhythms. Evan Schwam – Saxophones and Flute Nick Demopoulos – Guitar

Makeda Griffith is a dancer in body and soul, a talent recognized by PPAS, a school closely affiliated with the Alvin Ailey Company for dance.

New Opportunites for Performing Artists

The NICODA performing arts festival launches in the summer of 2011.  The event is designed to showcase the many talents of a large network of artists from dancers and musicians to poets and actors.  Multiple events, staged in many of NYC’s underserved neighborhoods, will function together in concert as an envoy of the arts.  

Contestants in each category will compete for prizes as they strive to bring beauty and illumination to the community.  If you would like to compete (or would like to nominate another artist), you can download the NICODA 2011 application here or inquire about the festival at info@nicoda.org.

Until then, NICODA will work on producing a series of smaller events in conjunction with Contaminate NYC.  These events will help promote the wealth of talent that exists in NYC.  If you are an artist, we would like to help promote your work, exhibitions, and events.  If you would like assistance; send us an email, or find us around the web. Stay tuned for upcoming events!