Monthly Activities En Español Kick-Off with a Dia De Los Muertos Celebration!
Miami, Sept. 22, 2016 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) historic Koubek Center, su casa de cultura, will launch a new bilingual family series, Playtime: Días de las Familias, from noon – 4 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 22, with a Día de Los Muertos celebration. This event is free and open to the public.
Playtime provides parents an engaging (and free) way for their children to learn and practice Spanish. The fun and interactive family days will highlight the diverse arts, crafts, literary histories, and music and dance of the city’s many Hispanic cultures. Children will be invited to sing, dance, create and speak together en español.
Just in time for Halloween, the series begins with a festive bang—a Dia de los Muertos celebration. Dia de los muertos – Day of the Dead – is a popular Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Latin America that honors the dead. With help from The Puppet Network, Ameyal Cultural Center, and the Mexican Cultural Institute in Miami, activities will include a puppet parade; thematic face painting and craft making (skull masks and papel picado: paper decorated with cut-outs); live Mexican folkloric music and dance performances and storytelling; an ofrenda (Day of the Dead altar) exhibit; a musical instrument petting zoo and more! Mexican food will be available for purchase.
The Playtime series will continue on Nov. 12 with Aventuras de Don Quixote (Adventures of Don Quixote).
The 2016-17 Season marks a new chapter in Koubek Center’s history—one in which the venue realizes its own programming. In addition to Playtime Días de las Familias, Koubek Center’s signature series include Little Havana Social Club, concert/dance parties in the gardens and En Residencia, an artist-in-residency initiative aligning art with activism, artist with community.
ABOUT THE KOUBEK CENTER
The Koubek Center—su casa de cultura— is an intellectual, cultural, and community hub in the heart of Little Havana. A historic landmark in South Florida, the revitalized mansion remains true to its pioneering heritage—celebrating its multicultural community with workshops, art exhibitions, theater performances, literary readings, concerts and more. In addition to the mansion, the iconic space includes glorious gardens, the Koubek theater, the ArtSpace gallery, classrooms, and mini performance spaces.
The programs of Koubek Center are made possible with the generous support of: Miami Dade College; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissionaires; the State of Florida, Department of State , Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America, a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts; and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
For more information, visit koubekcenter.org
MDC Live Arts Contact: Alexa Burneikis, 305-237-7733, aburneik@mdc.edu; and Jose Boza, Boza Agency, 786-326-7988; jboza@boza-agency.com