Rhode Island Latino Arts ✭ Peeps

Marta founded the Hispanic Heritage Committee of RI (HHCRI) in 1988, and as the organization evolved and changed its name, she became the first Executive Director of Rhode Island Latino Arts. She is the founder and Project Director of Nuestras Raíces: Latino Oral History Project of Rhode Island.

Marta is of Mexican heritage, was raised in El Paso, TX and currently lives in (Pawtuxet Village) Warwick, RI.

Orlando joined RILA in June of 2018. He oversees Teatro Latino | Rhode Island, RILA’s initiative in partnership with Trinity Repertory Company and facilitates activities that will support the creation and growth of the first statewide bilingual theater group in Rhode Island. He will also create and organize youth-centered activities that include, but will not be limited to dance, drumming and theater programming and also organize RILA’s Latino Artists Networking quarterly events.

Orlando is a Master Artist of Tap Dance, Poetry, Music, and Theater. He has a B.A from Yale University and has performed on stage in Trinity Repertory productions of Fuente Ovejuna, the bilingual traveling production of Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare en El Verano) and Christmas Carol. He lives in Providence, is fluent in Spanish and English, and is of Puerto Rican origin.

More about Orlando: www.orlyhernandez.com/

Kufa assists with outreach and organization of youth-centered activities that include, theater, song and poetry/spoken word.

Among his many talents, Kufa has acted in three productions that relate to the experience of the Latinx community, which included titles such as La Tempestad, Romeo y Julieta, and Native Gardens (a play by Latina playwright).

He co-translated and adapted the scripts for La Tempestad (2018) and Much Ado About Nothing (2019).

Kufa is a self-taught poet, singer and creator of spoken word.

Yaruska plays a key role in helping catalogue RILA's oral histories materials and assists in scholarly research.

She supports RILA's Executive Director and Nuestras Raíces Director during community collecting events scheduled in 2019, as we expand our oral histories collection.

Yaruska was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the U.S. at the age of eight. She has attended public schools in Providence, RI and graduated with honors from University of Rhode Island in 2016 with a B.S. in Psychology, B.A. in Anthropology.

Joann oversees Barrio Stories, RILA's Community Walking Tours initiative, focusing on Cranston Street, West End of Providence.

She will organize and lead bilingual tours on April 3 (America Walks Day) and May 4 (during the annual Jane's Walk weekend).

Sign up here to participate in these free tours.

• Daniel (Dany) Duque-Estrada - Danny is a Member of Trinity Repertory Company. He has been a counselor and teaching artist with Trinity Rep’s Young Actor’s Summer Institute and is a Graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting program with a BA from UC Berkeley. He grew up in California, is of Cuban heritage and lives in Providence.

• Joseph Flynn Molina - Joseph is a native of Medellin, Colombia and a native Spanish speaker. He is self-employed and handles family, immigration, and criminal cases. Joseph obtained his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor. He grew up in Pawtucket and currently lives in Warwick.

• Richard (Dick) Glenn - Dick was a partner at Edwards & Angell for than 38 years and then practiced for 8 years as a solo practitioner before he retired in 2017. His practice was in the business law field. Dick has a great deal of experience with non-profit organizations: he is a past board chair of Blithewold Mansion Gardens and Arboretum in Bristol, St. Andrews School in Barrington, and the Providence Chapter of the American Red Cross, among other activities. He is a resident of Barrington.

• Miguel Quezada - Miguel is a native of the Dominican Republic and lives in the Elmwood neighborhood of Providence. He has over fifteen years experience in the bioenvironmental, financial and healthcare sectors and is currently Specialty Sr. Sales Professional at Sanofi, where he sells market branded products to Endocrinologists in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Miguel has an MBA from Babson College and served in the U.S. Army.

• Angelica (Angie) Rivera - Angie is a resident of Providence. She currently works as the Community Development Specialist at Navigant Credit Union in Central Falls. She is a graduate of Rhode Island College with a degree in Business Operations.

A Providence, Rhode Island resident and self-taught visual artist José Ramirez is not one to sit still for long, unless of course a camera is in his hand.

Along with doing vocational work for a non-profit that steer those in need towards public assistance resources, Ramirez co-hosts and co-produces the weekly radio show "Sonic Watermelons" out of Brown University while also being on the board for the Providence Latin American Film Festival, Rhode Island Latino Arts and the Rhode Island Latino Dollars for Scholars Foundation.

Many of Ramirez's photos reflect his personal view of the world and the dense landscapes that provide an inspirational backdrop for it.

Tyler Dobrowsky is the associate artistic director at Trinity Rep. He has been a member of the education, community engagement and artistic teams since 2003.

As the theater's education director, he expanded Trinity Rep's student matinee program, Project Discovery, as well as the theater's in-school and after-school programs, and createdYoung Actors Summer Institute (YASI).
the popular summer program.

In the summers of 2016 and 2017 he directed a mobile, bilingual production of Shakespeare en el Verano — Romeo and Juliet in partnership with Rhode Island Latino Arts.

Tyler teaches at the Brown/Trinity MFA program, as well as in Trinity Rep’s education programs for children and adults. He received his MA in Education Policy from Brown University, and studied history, theater and Russian at Holy Cross.

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Winnie was raised in central Africa (her father was a tropical disease specialist); she moved to the United States in 1960 and received both her Bachelor of Arts and her PhD in Anthropology from the University of California (Berkeley). After a Post Doctorate at The Museum of Natural History (NY), she taught in the NY City University system and the School of Visual Arts (NY). She moved to RI where she founded and directed the Folk/Traditional & Community Arts Program at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Winnie has done research and/or produced films in Perú, Egypt, Tanzania, México, France and the US. She directed several cultural exchanges, including with France, México and Québec. Winnie specializes in Visual Anthropology and is a documentary filmmaker.

In 1992, she was a co-founder (with two Bolivians) of The Providence Latin-American Film Festival. A resident of Lincoln, she currently teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

A resident of Central Falls, Tia earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Hampshire. She has worked in the areas of restaurant management, sales, project management, real estate and business development.

Tia is a former Councilwoman for the City of Central Falls and has become known as a “catalyst for change,” motivating creative, committed people to get involved in such activities as planting community gardens and organizing a task force to target so-called “nuisance properties,” where noisy residents or neglectful landlords cause problems.

Her affiliations, all in Central Falls, include: The Lions Club; Community Collaborative; the Tax Appeal Board; Adams Memorial Library; Segue Institute for Learning; Central Falls Prevention Coalition.