AN ARTS/IMMIGRATION SERVICES COLLABORATION FUNDED BY CREATIVES REBUILD NEW YORK
THE EIIC CREATIVES: AN INTRODUCTION
BY ERIKA GREGORIO LOPEZ
The EIIC Creatives are six accomplished artists who are the recipients of a two-year Creatives Rebuild New York Artist Employment Program grant to the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. As a collaborative team, these artists will lend their instrumental music, songs, visual arts, and filmmaking repertoire to complement and raise awareness about the immigration legal services and social services programs of the EIIC in New York. The team includes West African multi-instrumentalist and singer Abdoulaye Alhassane Touré, Irish traditional singer/guitarist Mary Courtney, Irish singer/songwriter and guitarist Allen Gogarty, Peruvian American filmmaker Erika Gregorio Lopez, Chinese American blues musician and singer Jeff Lum, and Colombian painter Alejandro Pinzón. EIIC Citizenship and Educational Programs Manager Liz Baber and EIIC Cultural Programs and Development Manager Eileen Condon coordinate this program.
As a 501c3 nonprofit which since its founding in 1988 by leaders of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement, the Emerald Isle Immigration Center has grown to serve immigrants of more than 100 nationalities, out of offices in Woodside, Queens and Woodlawn, in the Bronx. As artists in residence, supporting the EIIC’s mission from July 2022 through June of 2024, the EIIC Creatives team is producing workshops, concert performances, exhibitions, and other arts events to help spread the word about EIIC’s services. In this way, members of newer immigrant communities learn that EIIC staff provide a wide range of immigration legal assistance and social services for clients, whatever their immigration status or ability to pay. Services include health insurance and primary healthcare access, food security support, mental wellness screenings, individual and group psychotherapy, wellness programs for seniors, as well as arts and cultural programs that celebrate the diversities of New York City’s immigrant communities.
Explore this website to learn more about EIIC, or call to set up an appointment to discuss your needs, at 718-478-5502 (Queens) or 718-324-3039 (Bronx). You can also follow EIIC on Twitter @EIIC1 and Facebook @EIICNY. Finally, you can help support the work of the EIIC, too, by spreading the word among your friends and family that these services exist in NYC free of charge. To help sustain our programs and services, you can make a donation here. Sign on to our EIIC Creatives programs mailing list so we can keep you up to date on upcoming programs by these wonderful artists!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ABDOULAYE ALHASSANE TOURE is a world-renowned multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and producer from Niger and Mali. His principal instrument is guitar, and he sings and plays the molo, the gurmi, and other Central Saharan string instruments. He was musical director, composer and lead guitarist for the Niger roots band, Mamar Kassey, that toured internationally to rave reviews. Mr. Alhassane also launched the careers of Moussa Poussy and many other singers from Niger, whose music he composed and arranged. He is of the same tradition as his mentors, Ali Farka Toure and Ibrahime Hamma Diko. Abdoulaye is a master of the music of many Saharan cultures and languages: Songhai, Sonrai, Tamasheq, Peul (Fula), Tuareg, Zarma, Hausa and others. His original music is rich in complex rhythms, beautiful blue modes, and joyous enthusiasm. Read more about him and the musical traditions he represents, on his website and in this informative article by Banning Eyre on AfroPop Worldwide.
Irish traditional singer, guitarist, and percussionist MARY COURTNEY grew up in a musical family in the parish of Castlegregory, near the sea in County Kerry, Ireland. Whether accompanying herself or holding the rhythm line with her traditional Irish band, Morning Star, Mary is a consummate musician. Her music blends traditional Irish songs and tunes with a progressive social conscience born of a political education in the United States. Her bodhrán (Irish hand-held drum) offers another dimension to her busy year-round schedule of performances all over the New York metropolitan area and in summers, at Catskills Irish Arts Week. Mary has used her music to spread Irish culture and to educate her audience about the struggles of the Irish people. During the pandemic she lent her songs to the rallies of the FEW Coalition who demanded equal pandemic relief for undocumented immigrant essential workers across New York State. Future musical ambitions include creating more audiovisual programs in virtual reality technology for seniors, as well as continuing to collaborate with indigenous artists. marycourtneymusic.com.
ALLEN GOGARTY was born into a musical family in County Meath, in his native country, Ireland, and started playing various musical instruments at an early age. He began to write his own songs in his early teens. His siblings and he started a band and performed the pub circuit in Ireland and festivals in Europe. After studying at the famed Academy of Music and Ballyfermot College of Music in Dublin, Allen went out on his own, performing in Ireland and Europe. After gaining much notoriety, Allen was asked to open for both Suzanne Vega and Status Quo. Allen has lived in New York City for over two decades, playing both as a solo artist and with his powerhouse band, the Wads. He is well known in the New York City Irish community for championing many benefits and fundraisers for those in need. During the pandemic Allen contributed his songwriting and singing to the FEW Coalition’s fight for equivalent pandemic relief for all immigrant essential workers in New York State, regardless of their documentation statuses. allengogartymusic.com
ERIKA GREGORIO LOPEZ, a Peruvian-American filmmaker, is extensively interested in documenting social topics. Right after college in 2018, Erika started working for CUNY TV, first as a camerawoman, then as assigned editor for a TV show. Eventually, she pivoted into coproducing and producing her own segments for shows such as Nueva York, and I Am a Dreamer. In 2021, Erika won her first Emmy and a second one the year after. Having migrated at the young age of 10, Erika has experienced first hand the challenges of relocating to a new country. She believes that being able to capture and share these stories will help the immigrant community feel represented and seen. She is currently in pre-production for a documentary about the impact of immigration policies affect our most vulnerable communities, generationally. As part of her work with the Emerald Isle Immigration Center through Creatives Rebuild New York, she has produced a minidocumentary of her fellow artists and is also editing video PSAs to promote the mental health counseling and therapy services for immigrants available through EIIC.
A NYC-born son of Chinese immigrant parents (hailing from the Tai Ping peninsula region, not far from Hong Kong), JEFF LUM has been singing and playing blues guitar and harmonica for many years. Following a long legal career Jeff began teaching citizenship classes at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. Since youth he was strongly drawn to and influenced by traditional American roots music (blues, folk, and country genres). He has developed his love for this music by creating studio recordings and performing as part of his citizenship classes for immigrants of many nationalities preparing for their exams at EIIC. Jeff feels the musical and lyrical themes of American roots music still connect with people today across generations and culture and he enjoys using music to keep his students engaged during their studies on the path to citizenship. He also continues to perform at Emerald Isle Immigration Center events, as he did prior to his engagement as an artist-in-residence at the EIIC through Creatives Rebuild New York.
ALEJANDRO PINZÓN was born in the town of Charalá, Santander, Colombia, in 1971. His father, Luis Alejandro Pinzón, was a veteran of the Korean War and his mother, Nelly Martínez Poveda, worked as a teacher and notary. Alejandro felt strong attraction to books from his early years, poring through his father’s vast collection, and it was there he discovered paintings. The high-quality illustrations in his children’s encyclopedia introduced him to the paintings of da Vinci, Rousseau, and Picasso, shaping his later aspirations. Sr. Supelano, his music teacher at José Antonio Galán School of Charalá, first taught Alejandro to paint. Another great influence (in the use of color and motifs) was primitivist painter Manolo Díaz, who was also born in Charalá. Alejandro made his first paintings using gouache colors over cardboard, before he learned to use oil. At age eight, he entered and won a town art contest with the illustration of two scenes: one scene showing the order and quietness of pupils in front of a school mistress and the second representing their chaos in their teacher’s absence. Alejandro was commended for his sincerity. He devoted himself fully to painting by age 15 and launched his career by winning more prizes in regional arts contents. He worked with his mentor Manolo Díaz on a mural for the House of Culture in his hometown, which opened the door to further study. He moved to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, at 18. Over the last decades he has taken part in major art exhibitions in Colombia and since 2005 has entered international competitions, in Brazil, Venezuela, Australia, Japan, several European countries, Canada, and now the United States, where he currently resides, constantly painting and exhibiting his work. More at: alejandropinzonart.com and linktr.ee/alejandropinzonart1