Events

Rosca to Speak at Rutgers University on Haiyan Mission 

New Jersey — On Friday, April 25, 2014, AF3IRM member Ninotchka Rosca will give a report on the aftermath of the super-typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

The Rutgers Association of Pilipino Students (RAPS) is hosting the event which is open to the public at the Asian American Cultural Center located at the Livingston Campus, 49 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854.

Rosca

“Typhoon Haiyan,” said Ms. Rosca, “is a vivid illustration of what’s coming with climate change.  It is incumbent for all of us to take full measure of its toll on human life.  This is not just for those of Philippine ancestry.  No race, no ethnicity can escape these changes and we need to cooperate to make sure that survival won’t be only for the few with resources.”

With the highest landfall speed ever recorded, typhoon Haiyan decimated the island of Leyte, as well as parts of Samar and Cebu islands.   Estimates of fatalities range from 8,000 to 12,000, with 600,000 homeless and 11 million directly affected by the storm.  Seven million trees, including entire coconut groves upon which the livelihood of thousands depended, were destroyed.

Along with AF3IRM National Chair Jollene Levid, Ms. Rosca visited Leyte, Cebu and Zamboanga this January.  They went through villages which had been totally wiped out by the typhoon and where residents were desperately re-building on their own, while searching for missing relatives and friends.  In the course of this needs-assessment mission, Ms. Rosca tracked down a rumor about a thousand still unburied bodies – something denied by authorities – and the two found them in the yard of a building near the San Juanico bridge.

Following reports of sexual assaults – also stringently denied by authority – in the typhoon areas, AF3IRM, in cooperation with the National Association of Asian and Pacific Islanders to End Sexual Violence and Exploitation (NAPIESVE), sent Ms. Rosca and Ms. Levid to the Philippines to conduct a needs-assessment analysis, focused on women and children.

“Trafficking, prostitution and child prostitution are much feared and much talked about,” noted Ms. Rosca wryly, “but about which not much is done.”

Both Ms. Levid and Ms. Rosca have been giving presentations on the typhoon to various groups.  “We approach the issues comprehensively,” explained Ms.  Rosca, “so that people leave with a sense of how to interface with the damaged communities.”

Phase 2 of the AF3IRM/NAPIESVE Philippine mission will begin in second half of this year.  It will focus on training people to establish safety zones for women and children, as well as ensure that their specific needs are among immediate relief goods.

Anyone who wish to help, contribute or work with the mission can email nynj@af3irm.org.   For direct cash donations, please access the AF3IRM project page at www.sponsorphilippines.org.

Miguel Braganza Celebrates 30 Biz Years In Thank You, New York Concert

New York — Broadway musical artist Miguel Braganza II, who is celebrating his 30th anniversary in dance and theater this year, urges his friends in the entertainment industry, to join him and his friends for an evening of music, dance, and fashion billed “Salamat, Salamat, New York” (Thank you, New York), which celebrates Braganza’s years in the biz, at the same time, raise funds for his various advocacy projects.

Braganza with the former cast of Miss Saigon (Photos by Oliver Oliveros)

Produced by the nonprofit organization Filipinos in the Arts in America, Inc. (FilinArts), in cooperation with Queens Asian Fest, “Salamat, Salamat, New York,” featuring an international cast and fashion designer Arielle Agasang’s haute couture collection, will take place at Sheraton La Guardia East Hotel (135-20 39th Ave., Flushing, NY) on Friday, May 2, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. For dinner show tickets ($65-$125), call Debbie 551-998-84455 or Myrna 917-502-9887, or email filinarts@yahoo.com.

Braganza is a Walter Terry scholar in the dance performance and choreography program at Harvard University in the ‘80s, and assistant to Tony Award-winning director John Dexter in the original Broadway production of “M. Butterfly” from 1988-1990, joined the cast of the U.S. and international productions (Germany, Canada, UK, and Portugal) of Cameron Mackintosh’s megamusical “Miss Saigon” for 14 years: a feat that made him feel so blessed, and has prompted him to donate his time, talents, and resources by teaching young and up-and-coming artists,  build libraries, and promote arts programs both in New York and in the Philippines to this day.

“For the last three years, besides supporting about 40 musical theater and dance scholars at Julie Borromeo Performing Arts Foundation in Manila, I’ve also been collaborating with various foundations and nonprofit organizations in the Philippines, giving out free arts workshops for Filipino youths.  I’m also thrilled that my pilot project “Street of Dreams: Library and Arts in the Park for the Youth” in Santa Ana, Manila will also be adopted by more than 10 libraries in nearby neighborhoods,” says Braganza. “But I need your help to sustain these projects.”

Part of the proceeds from the dinner show will also go to various arts programs developed by FilinArts for Filipino American youths in the New York Tri-State area.

“Salamat, Salamat, New York’s” cast include opera, Broadway, cultural, and pop singers: Ionie Bernstein, Anna Penchuk,
Daphne Mamoulides, Karl Scully, Cameo Humps, Lisa Villamaria, Kay Habana,Virna Yao, Mark Roska,  Yiling Li, Cathy Jiang,
Joel Inocencio, Jordan Sese, Sanagustin Quartette, and Gail Banawis; dancers: Natallia Sheptalova, Ikuma Takashi, Kyler Breed, McGough Sisters, Christine Liwag, Mi Yeong Mendonca, Qi Min and “Dancing with the Stars” Junior Champions Craig and Samantha Abaya-Campos; models: Jiaju Shen (pipa player), Katerina Giannakopoulos, Marvee Sanagustin, Tatiana Sheptalova, and Kiko Cajoles; and pianist- vocalist Jordan Addison and  Jason Matamis.

Additionally, past and current MB2 New York Musical Theatre Lab participants Jillian Sese, Katarina Ladaga, Ryan Paqueo, Nikole Inocencio, Marvi Cajoles, Maroll Cajoles, Eloise Macapagal, Julia Owens,Christine Morales, Marcus dePompies,  Stephanie Quimbao, and  Matthew Marano will perform.

Braganza has conceptualized, will direct and choreograph the show, featuring lighting design by Alex Denevers and sound design by Edmundo Quinones. Qi Min, Rowena Bontor O’Mary and Rolly Postadan will create additional choreography.

FilinArts is dedicated to the promotion and presentation of the works of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. It is involved in training young artists, creating performing opportunities, and community development through cultural exchange programs and professional productions in music, dance, theater, and fashion.

Any donation is tax deductible and deeply appreciated.  Please send to Filipinos in the Arts in America Inc., 197 Summit Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601.

Braganza II, who currently works at the Metropolitan Opera House in NewYork City, is the founder and president of Filipinos in the Arts in America, Inc. (FilinArts) and program director-instructor of MB2 New York Musical Theatre Lab.

Theater and dance teaching credits include the Police Academy League (Manhattan), Graham-Wyndham (Bronx), the United Nations International School (Queens), and Julian Curtiss School (Greenwich, Connecticut). He has also conducted dance and musical theater workshops all over the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, and Portugal. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Theater Arts from Silliman University in the Philippines; he has been a recipient of various scholarships in dance and theater, which include studies at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Madame Youskevitch, Nat Horne Musical Theatre, and Harvard University.

In 2008, Braganza conceptualized, directed, and choreographed “Filipinos in America,” produced by PACBC of New Jersey.

During the 2010 New York Fashion Week, he presented “Danzfabrique.” In 2011, FilinArts created and produced “Aurus Mindanao” (The Gold of Mindanao), a dance theater fashion show, which featured the jewelry collection of Romana Haar, a gemologist, jewelry designer, and official jeweler of the “Miss Earth” pageant.

Awards include 2010 Who’s Who Among Sillimanians, East Coast, USA, 2011 PACCAL Awardee (Performing Arts), 2012 PAMANA
Award Presidential Nominee, and 2013 Outstanding Zambosurian.

Join the 4th Annual Summer School of Women’s Activism

Mark the dates June 7, 14, 21 AND 28, 2014
12 Noon to 4 pm

New York — For four Saturday afternoons this month of June, AF3IRM’s celebrated Summer School of Women’s Activism opens its 4th annual session.  To register, please access  www.ssowa.eventbrite.com.

Location of the school, which is a safe space, will be in Manhattan, with the exact address given to those who register.

The only one of its kind, the Summer School combines the theory and practice of Feminism at the four levels of historical, international, national and local.  It presents a paradigm drawn from what AF3IRM calls the five continent feminism, as created from and by the practice of transnational women in the United States.  It prepares both the framework and the issue concentration for a fourth wave of feminism, in which such current phenomena as globalization, militarism and increasing wealth/property inequality continues to characterize the modern world.  It draws inspiration from indigenous principles regarding a harmonious relationship between earth, nature and human beings.

The four sessions are apportioned thematically as follows:  Vanish-ment and Women’s History, Sexism. Commodification and
Trafficking, Militarism, and the Fourth Wave.

Participants are provided a light lunch and reading materials and are enjoined to bring to the discussion both their lived and learned experiences.

Classes are democratic in process, with presentations provided by facilitators and a large portion of the time dedicated to discussions.

At the last session, a ritual ceremony of renewal and commitment is held.  For this year, SSOWA will also hold the Luna Bike Ride – a bicycle trek to some of the important women’s historical spots of the city of New York.

For more information, please contact  nynj@af3irm.org.

Transnational feminism: rethinking, redefining the women’s movement for justice and change.