Tonight: El Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Awards Ceremonies

“El Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Awards presentation will take place on Friday, June 12, 2009 at Hunter College, Faculty Dining Room, West Building – 8th Floor, 68th Street at Lexington Avenue starting at 7 P.M. (My mom asked me to take her).

El Puerto Rican Embassy and La Pietri Family in collaboration with El Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños announce the second presentation of El Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Awards.

El Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Awards honors the memory of Rev. Pedro Pietri, one of the most gifted poet/playwrights of the Twentieth Century and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poetry Movement, and was created to recognize significant artistic and cultural contributions by Puerto Rican/Nuyorican poets, artists, musicians and political activists working in their respective fields today.

This year El Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Awards are being presented to Miriam Colón – actor and founder of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, José “Chegui” Torres – first Puerto Rican Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, journalist and best selling author of Sting like a bee, the biography of Muhammad Ali, Ntozake Shange – poet/playwright and author of For Colored Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow’s Enuff, Carlos Ortíz – photographer and filmmaker and producer/director of Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy, Dylcia Pagán – activist, filmmaker, writer, and artist, and Tato Laviera – poet/playwright and winner of the American Book Award for En Clave.

The evening will be hosted by Mariposa and Adál Maldonado with surprise guests and will feature performances by spoken word artists and poets, among them: Miguel Algarín, Ntozake Shange, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, Tato Laviera, Mariposa, Speedo, Sheila Candelario, and Ricardo León Peña Villa. Musical performances will include Pepo Saavedra, Raquel Z. Rivera, Papote y el Concepto Cultural, and an award winning short film West Side Story Upside Down, Sideways, Backwards and Out of Focus by Adál Maldonado.

El Rev. Pedro Pietri Hand Award is an Object d’ Art designed by Adál Maldonado with a custom made ring designed in collaboration with Olga Ayala. The ring has the logo of the Church of Our Mother of Tomatoes, which was founded by Rev. Pedro who was officially ordained as a minister with the Ministries of Salvation in California. Rev. Pedro ministered to his flock by visiting prisons and insane asylums and bringing them salvation through his poetry and dark humor.”

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