Episode 61: 50 years of Promoting Afro-Latin Arts & Culture in Chicago

On today’s show we welcome the Executive Director of the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, Omar Torres Kortright. The cultural center is the longest serving Latinx cultural center in Chicago and this year they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary, so we invited Omar on the show to talk about the center’s namesake, what initiated its founding in the 1970s - hint the Young Lords played a role - and how they plan to celebrate and serve Chicago for another 50 years.

We also welcome author and poet, Luis Tubens, as well as dancer and choreographer, María Luisa-Torres. Maria and Luis are the creators of a production called Raíces to Roots, which will have a number of showings in the coming weeks at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center as part of the 50th anniversary celebration. We’re going to talk about their production, what they want people to take away after experiencing it and what partnering with the cultural center today means for them.