The Hispanic population is growing in our area and with it, Latino culture.
But does Latino programming necessarily translate into bigger box office or greater viewership for cultural presenters?
What is certain is that at a time when immigration reform is a hair-trigger topic and Hispanic businesses are struggling along with the rest of the economy, Latin-American artists have found a home here.
ArtsWestchester (formerly the Westchester Arts Council), the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, the nearby Katonah Museum of Art, Purchase College”™s Neuberger Museum of Art and Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., are among the prominent local cultural organizations that have in recent years created exhibits, performances, music series and outreach programs inspired by Latino culture. These not only embrace the Spanish-speaking countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean but their Portuguese-speaking neighbors as well.
All of which is fine and good, says Hispanic business leader Alan E. Dillon, as long as the programming and outreach don”™t smack of tokenism and end when government grants for these enterprises run out.
“You can”™t create programming for political correctness. It”™s counterproductive,” says Dillon, the Argentine-born president of the Hispanic Business & Professional Association of Westchester County Inc. “(Latino programming) has to be done with sincerity and the purpose of educating everyone.”
Cultural leaders ”“ who are first and foremost driven by a passion for the arts, including those of Latin America, and a desire to share them with as large an audience as possible ”“ wouldn”™t have it any other way.
“It”™s not enough to put Latin-American art on the walls,” says Emily Mello, curator of education at Purchase College”™s Neuberger Museum of Art. “We”™ve been taking steps to go out and let people know what we have to offer.”
The Neuberger ”“ which in 2009 appointed a curator of Latin-American art, scholar Patrice Giasson ”“ plans to work with ArtsWestchester actively to market its fall show on contemporary Mexican engraver Nicolás de Jésus to the Hispanic community, along with related programming on El DÃa de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), a holiday among Mexicans and other Latinos that coincides with the Roman Catholic All Souls”™ Day, on Nov. 2.
Recently, the Neuberger caused a splash in the art world with its exhibit of performances and installations by provocative Cuban artist Tania Bruguera.
Still, the question remains: Does Latino programming ensure a Latino audience and thus, enhanced attendance?
It”™s a question that”™s difficult to answer statistically, cultural leaders say, without asking attendees about their race and ethnicity. Still, anecdotally, they say that appealing to a substantial segment of the population ”“ Hispanics make up 18 percent of Westchester County residents and 16 percent of the United States ”“ does broaden your audience.
“Many Spanish-speaking people came to Caramoor for the first time because of these concerts,” CEO and general director Michael Barrett says of “Sonidos Latinos” (“Latin Sounds”), the Caramoor International Music Festival series that began in 2007 with a two-year $500,000 state grant for new initiatives and is still going strong.
Down the road at the Katonah Museum, executive director Neil Watson says that the current exhibit, “Cuba Avant-Garde,” has been drawing Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike ”“ although that may have something to do with the related “Movies and Mojitos” nights.
The museum, which began targeting Hispanic viewers with its strategic plan of 2002, has received a two-year $115,338 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to expand its family docent-training program as a way of introducing new immigrants to museum resources.
Just because you have a show on Cuba, however, doesn”™t necessarily mean that Hispanics from other countries will be interested in it. Complicating the challenge of engaging the Latino community is the multifaceted nature of its culture.
Says Caramoor”™s Barrett: “Latin America is made up of so many races and cultures. There are big European, African, Caribbean and Asian influences.”
Hispanic business leader Dillon ”“ a Mamaroneck-based lawyer with clients throughout the tri-state area ”“ is a good example of this rich mélange. His roots in Argentina go back to the early 1800s. But he is Irish and Italian on his father”™s side and also has family in Venezuela.
Respecting that complexity is important to cultural leaders like Sophia Gevas, director of The Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
This fall, the gallery will present “Juxtapositions,” a show of Caribbean and Latin-American figurative art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection that features 37 works by 34 artists, whose backgrounds will be made distinct.
“What we do in this country is to lump things together,” Gevas says. “But as a university gallery, our goal is to educate.”
Dillon hopes that education will lead to a greater understanding of Latino cultures and a dialogue between Latinos and those descended from other ethnicities.
Certainly, he”™d like to see a greater conversation between the Latino business community ”“ which he says has languished somewhat of late ”“ and The Business Council of Westchester and The Westchester County Association.
“The more we get to know each other,” he says, “the easier it is to live together.”
Hispanic population
Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing ethnic or race in the U.S., accounting for 16 percent of the population (18 percent in Westchester). In the U.S., that figure is expected to grow to 30 percent by 2050.
Sources: U.S. Census, Westchester County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
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Hispanics account for 16 percent of the population today, a number that will reach 30 percent by 2050.
Sources: U.S. Census
