Puerto Rico: Cultura Virtual

The Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP) is engaging families across the archipelago of Puerto Rico through Cultura Virtual, an online initiative that shares locally sourced creative content. It draws inspiration from the highly successful Cultura Rodante program, which was developed as an emergency program in response to Hurricanes Irma and María in September 2017, then adopted as a regular program due to its success addressing accessibility challenges. Cultura Virtual is providing free arts programming while residents are confined indoors due to the COVID-19 health emergency.

Programming is offered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings through Facebook Live video streaming. ICP has engaged more than 30 artists to produce content ranging across all artistic disciplines. Recent broadcasts have included improvisational theatre, Bomba dance lessons, children’s programming, ballet performances, botanical drawing, folklore storytelling and demonstrations of traditional instruments used in the indigenous Taíno culture. Many videos include American Sign Language interpretation to make the material accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing.

The series attracted more than 15,000 views during its first week. In addition to providing educational opportunities, the program is a source of inspiration, celebrating the cultural pride, determination and resiliency of the Puerto Rican people, and serves as an antidote to isolation. The Cultural Virtual initiative is made possible through support from the National Endowment for the Arts. For further information, contact ICP at apoyo@icp.pr.gov, or follow @icppr on Facebook or Twitter.