Centro Hispano will host “Una Tarde Con Denice Frohman” on Thursday, Sept. 26, 5:30 p.m., the first big event at their brand-new building on Madison’s South Side. The event will feature inspiring New York-based poet and performer Denice Frohman and will be dedicated to “honoring the richness of Latinx culture and creating a space where community members can come together to express themselves and reflect on their shared experiences.”
“There’s a signature event that we host at Centro in October called ‘Evening of Dreaming’ but we wanted to have an afternoon version of it focusing more on young people,” Dr. Karen Menéndez Coller, executive director of Centro Hispano of Dane County, tells Madison365, explaining the origins of “Una Tarde Con Denice Frohman.” “So we’ve been talking to Denice [Frohman] for about two years now, and we were trying to figure out the best event to bring her to Madison. This just worked out and our schedules aligned.
“We are so excited for Thursday to see what she might put together. She’s such an amazing spoken-word artist performer, and she just talks about identity and thinking about things outside the box … even your own sense of self as you’re developing your voice.”
Frohman, a poet and performer from New York City, has received support from The Pew Center for the Arts, Baldwin for the Arts, CantoMundo, Headlands Center for the Arts, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Poem-A-Day (The Academy of American Poets), The BreakBeat Poets: LatiNext, Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, The Rumpus and elsewhere, according to her website. A former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, she has been featured on hundreds of stages from The Apollo to The White House and is currently developing her one-woman show, Esto No Tiene Nombre, which centers the oral histories of Latina lesbian elders.
“Her performance is so important for so many of the kids that we see at Centro, and also for the larger community. I really want for everybody to come out and have a good time, because it’s really fun to watch her perform from what I have seen of her before,” Menéndez Coller says. “I just think it’s really powerful.”
“Una Tarde Con Denice Frohman” will focus on celebrating the strengths of the Latinx community, elevating individual voices, and exploring personal identity through poetry, according to a press release from Centro, and a special emphasis will also be placed on engaging and empowering the youth within Madison’s Latinx community, who will have a unique opportunity to engage directly with Frohman and other community leaders.
(Photo by A. David Dahmer)
This will be the first signature event taking place at Centro’s new building, called Calli, located on the corner of Hughes Place and Cypress Way, a 25,000-square-foot space designed to better serve the community with expanded resources and opportunities.
“We’re particularly excited to include a dedicated component for our youth, as we recognize the importance of supporting and empowering the next generation of Latinx leaders in Madison,” Menéndez Coller says. “At the event, we will have food and Denise will perform at 6 p.m. for about 45 minutes. We are looking forward to the interactive things she has planned. She just had such a great vibe and we can’t wait.”
Frohman is known for her impactful performances reflecting identity heritage and social justice. On Thursday, she will deliver powerful spoken word presentations designed to inspire and uplift and attendees can expect an evening filled with poetry, dialogue, and community-building activities.
The program is geared towards youth and empowerment as Centro looks to foster a sense of identity and pride among young people in the Latinx community. But, Menéndez Coller says, it is an event for all ages.
“Some of the kids that have graduated from Centro programs will be at the event, as well as others who have been involved in Centro over the years … so we are really looking forward to that, too,” she says. “This will be our first big event at Centro, so we can’t wait for people to come.”
For more information about “Una Tarde con Denice Frohman” or to RSVP, click here.
