Hispanic Heritage and the arts

BRONX (WABC) -- October is Hispanic Heritage Month. Recently, we featured some famous Latino dishes, and this week we take a look at the arts.

Latino artists are some of the biggest artists in music business, but the work of keeping Hispanic Heritage alive goes well beyond the music stage.

At Museo del Bario in East Harlem, preserving culture and promoting the work of upcoming artists has been mission for more than 44 years.

"I think what artists do is really important. I think artists have a way interpreting contemporary reality in a different way, rather than reading a text book. I think people can look at work of art," curator Rocio Aranda-Alvarado said.

Art, sculpture, and literature are all on display at El Museo. Upcoming topics include Latin identity in a shifting city and a look back of how the first wave of Puerto Ricans helped define the city.

Another way Latino heritage is helping to preserve culture is through the many dance programs in the area. Among the more notable, Ballet Hispanico founded in 1970 by Venezuelan American choreographer Tina Ramirez, it is one of the most respected professional dance companies focused on celebrating Latino culture in the country.

When it comes to the stage, Latino playwrites, actors and directors know they have a home on West 47 Street at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. The mission of theater for over 39 years has been to present and produce truly bilingual professional theater. It's now teamed up with Teatro Pregones Theater from the Bronx, and they are just two of several important theaters in the city helping to preserve heritage through the arts.

"I think it is important in the sense we know about our culture. We are very proud of it, but the great majority of the population does not know&" found Míriam Colón said.

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Online:

El Museo

Ballet Hispanico

Puerto Rican Traveling Theater

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