Queens Theatre in the Park Announces CHASE 2010 Latino Cultural Festival

Queens Theatre in the Park (QTP) announced the Chase 2010 Latino Cultural Festival, which will take place from July 29 to August 8 at Queens Theatre in the Park. This is the 14th year of the festival, which will feature 13 events including music, dance, comedy, spoken word, film, and family-friendly performances, such as a concerts by Leon Gieco, a pop-folk musician who has been called the Argentine Bob Dylan; Carlos Varela, one of Cuba’s most talented and emblematic artists; Colombia folk musician Jorge Velosa, who will perform his creation, a new musical style called carranguero music; and singer Susana Baca, who has been instrumental in the international popularity of Afro-Peruvian music. This year’s participants hail from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, the United States, and Venezuela.

"The Chase Latino Festival is the Theatre’s signature program. It represents everything our Theatre strives to be in terms of reflecting and celebrating the cultural legacies of the communities living in our Borough, and inviting international, national and local artists to showcase their work at our venue. Despite the severity of the economic situation, this Festival continues to flourish, due in large part to its many supporters and sponsors, and of course, the curatorial vision of the Festival’s artistic director, Claudia Norman, who has brought over 200 companies and artists to perform at the Festival since its inception in 1997," said Jeffrey Rosenstock, Executive Director of Queens Theatre in the Park.

"As the only multidisciplinary Latino festival in New York, we always seek to represent – in 9 days- the diversity of Latino and Latin American culture. I think it’s important to bring artists to the US from abroad as well as local artists and expose audiences to past, present and future through live performances. This year’s schedule includes the contemporary voices (dance commission, young poets from the boroughs, film), the traditional and popular forms (tango, milonga, urban dance, comedy troup), the legends (Yomo Toro, Leon Gieco, Susana Baca, Jorge Velosa) , and the new generation of singers and songwriters (Carlos Varela, Pistolera, Lucia Pulido, Claudia Acuña, Aquiles Baez)," said Claudia Norman, Artistic Director of the festival.

In 1997, Queens Theatre in the Park founded the Latino Cultural Festival with the Latin America Cultural Center of Queens to celebrate the contributions of Latin American artists to New York’s cultural life. Queens Theatre saw that a rising number of Hispanics were calling Queens home and adopted an artistic vision that was at once local and global. Through the Festival’s performing arts programs, Queens Theatre could better serve the changing community with artistic programs that were relevant and could resonate throughout the community.

Under the leadership of Claudia Norman, Festival Artistic Director since 1999, Queens Theatre in the Park highlights Spanish, African and Caribbean influences, presents rich folk traditions, and spotlights a range of popular and cutting edge artists. By amplifying new voices and showcasing classic heritage, she has transformed a modest cabaret series into the nation’s largest and most important Latino multi-disciplinary cultural festival, featuring music, theatre, dance, film and family productions, as well as visual art exhibitions. Many of the participating Central and South American artists now make the Festival their exclusive NYC engagement. This once local effort to better serve Latino audiences has become a major cultural attraction in the northeast.

Program

• Thursday, July 29, 2010 – Contra Tiempo, Urban Latin Dance Theatre
• Friday, July 30, 2010 – Yomo Toro Y Los Latinos Del Son, Special Guest "El Topo",Music
• Saturday, July 31, 2010 – FREE – Pistolera – Moona Luna, Music
• Saturday, July 31, 2010 – Americahttps://worldmusiccentral.org.Nos, Comedy
• Sunday, August 1, 2010 – Tango y Vida, Music and Dance
• Tuesday, August 3, 2010 – Alejandro Caceres Dance Company
• Wednesday, August 4, 2010 – FREE – Film – Al otro lado
• Wednesday, August 4, 2010 – FREE – Open Mic Night / Bonafide Rojas
• Wednesday, August 4, 2010 – FREE – Milonga – Los Chantas Tango Quartet
• Thursday, August 5, 2010 – Leon Gieco – opening act Claudia Acuña, Aquiles Baez and Lucia Pulido
• Friday, August 6, 2010 – Carlos Varela, Music
• Saturday, August 7, 2010 – Jorge Velosa and Los Carrangueros, Music
• Sunday, August 8, 2010 – Susana Baca, Music

Tickets are available:

* Online at www.queenstheatre.org.
* By phone at 718-760-0064, Tue-Sat, 12-6pm.
* In person at Queens Theatre in the Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flushing, NY.