...Astonishingly, Vivas - a 10-month-old restaurant in a weary-looking Belmar strip mall a few blocks in either direction from the Atlantic Ocean beaches and the marinas of the Shark River Inlet - manages to bring it off. Dinner here is an exuberant experience, a lesson in shaking expectations.
The shaker in chief is Will Vivas, the 31-year-old chef and co-owner (with David Pollack, a builder). Born in Venezuela, Mr. Vivas came to the United States at 19, learned the trade at the New York Restaurant School and, in 2002, opened the lively, urban-pioneering Bistro Olé in downtown Asbury Park...
Aid for Aids gives AIDS drugs a second chance to extend lives
..Founded in 1996 by Venezuelan-born Jesús Aguais, in these 12 years Aid for AIDS has redistributed more than $40 million worth of donated HIV medications. These drugs, which can cost as much as $800, $1,000 or even $2,000 for a month's supply, have benefited more than 5,000 people in 27 countries.
Aguais, 41, a city resident for two decades, projects that this year Aid for AIDS will redistribute about $8 million worth of medicine.
"It's a matter of life and death, millions of people need this medicine and have no way of getting it," he said in a room full of HIV drugs being prepared by staff members to be sent via FedEx to individual patients in Latin America and other parts of the world. Looking around he added: "This is tangible, you can see it, you can touch it."...
Ballet Hispanico Artistic Director & Founder Tina Ramirez Annouces Resignation
...Ramirez Will Step Down In June 2009. Tina Ramirez, Artistic Director and Founder of Ballet Hispanico, the foremost dance interpreter of Hispanic culture in the United States, announced today that she has asked the organization’s Board of Directors to commence a search for a new Artistic Director. Ramirez founded Ballet Hispanico 38 years ago. From its grassroots origins as a dance school and community-based performing arts troupe, the institution has grown into a world class company, school of dance, and arts education program headquartered in New York City. Ramirez will be an integral part of the national search for a successor to build on her vision for the organization and will remain Artistic Director until June 2009 or until a successor is found...
Ma. Cristina Cepeda: Just think big, dream big, and start somewhere
She's a role model for any artist who's ever dreamed of making it big in a country other than their own. After graduating as a Graphic Designer in Caracas, Maria Cristina Cepeda made the move to the Big Apple in 1999.
"I was lucky to get accepted at such a prestigious school as Parsons School of Design, and to be part, of what back then, was a brand new program - the MAFDT (Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technology). My class was just the second year of students enrolled in the program! I hadn't even stepped foot in Manhattan before I went to the Parson's registration desk that Spring. I thought, 'If I can make it here, I'll make it anywhere.'"
"So, there I was, not even 21. My English was good enough for passing the TOEFL exam and getting into Parsons, but not nearly good enough to understand what my Indian cab driver, the Russian nurse, or the Chinese dry cleaning lady were saying to me. Ready or not, I was there, facing the challenge."
After graduating in the spring of 2001, Maria Cristina's work was showcased in several art galleries along Fifth Avenue.
Con mucha emoción les invito a disfrutar de mi nueva sección: Entrevistas! Además de la gran satisfacción de enterarme de la vida y logros de cientos de venezolanos expatriados, una de las cosas que más me llenan es el llegar a conocerlos en persona. Me considero afortunado de vivir en una ciudad que ha atraído tanto talento, y de tener tantos panas en otras ciudades que me presentan -virtualmente- a sus panas que están haciendo cosas interesantes. Las historias son buenísimas, a veces increibles y la mayor parte de las veces muy familiares. Todos compartimos el haber salido de Venezuela con ganas de coger el toro por los cuernos, y hacernos un futuro, si bien siguiendo un plán, o dejando que el azar, o el universo nos llevara de la mano. Muchos son los cuentos de trabajo arduo y tropiezos, pero la gran mayoría terminan en un pana muy orgulloso/a de sus raices, dejando muy en alto el nombre de Venezuela, haciendo un poquito de historia alrededor del mundo.
En esta nueva sección, que no tienen formato más del que una buena conversada en El León de La Castellana pueda tener (aunque quizás un poco más pulida), espero pintarles una semblanza de todos aquellos/as que le están echando pichón a diario, y que de repente aún no están en la mira internacional. O, si ya lo están, que nos echen el cuento de como llegaron allí.
...I'd like to welcome Venezuelan artist Max Vogel aka RAZAUNO to the Engrave Your Book artist series. This isn’t the first time Max has experimented with laser art; he was featured in the February issue of Juxtapoz magazine for his laser engraved wood pieces.
The pictures below are from his recent solo show in Paris, "Better Known As Brooklyn", which featured wall size hand-painted letter-forms, custom skateboard decks, and laser engraved wood panels. ...
Junio 29 : Gaithersburg : MD : Venezuelan Cultural Festival 2008
Join us to celebrate the independence day of Venezuela at Seneca Creek State Park, on this great family day we´ll have food art and live performances by: DJ LEO, DJ RAINIER & TAMBORES DEL SAN JUAN.
Come and Experience "La Rumba Venezolana" at TANTRA LOUNGE INDEBLEU with the venezuelan Djs DJ RAINIER & DJ LEO playing the best of today´s and yesterdays venezuelan hits.
Time: 9 pm to 2 am
Cover: 10$ (free admision with the flyer before 11). +21. Dress Stylish.
Venezuelan pianist Edward Simon is going to be at Jazz Bakery tomorrow 6/14/08!
Edward Simon
8:00pm
Jazz Bakery
Los Angeles, CA
Edward Simon was born in the coastal town of Punta Cardn, Venezuela where he grew up in a family of musicians surrounded by the sounds and rhythms of Latin and Caribbean music. The talent he showed as a youth led his father to send him to study in the US, where he won scholarships in classical piano at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia under the tutelage of concert pianist Susan Starr and in jazz at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Harold Danko. While a student in his teens, Simon performed with Philly guitarist Kevin Eubanks and saxophonist Greg Osby...
...Venezuelan photographer Leslie Gabaldon said she had been nervous about sales since art was a luxury item, but she was pleased to have sold three works on Wednesday, the opening day of the Affordable Art Fair, which runs through Sunday.
"I was afraid with the economy, everything is so bad, but I guess it's nothing to do with art," Gabaldon said, standing by a group of photographs of snow-covered branches and flowers lit up by sunshine, inspired by Chinese art....
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