Professor Ericka Verba, is the director of Latin American Studies at California State University. She's an author and a musician, recently reviewed as a rising star by the Los Angeles magazine voyage LA. She is notably the author of the first English language biography of Violeta Parra out now entitled Thanks to Life. The title translates Parra's iconic song, Gracias a la Vida, famously covered by Joan Baez and many more. Violeta Parra is one of Chile's most important women artists and Ericka's study of her life and work spans five decades. Her deep expertise translates into the reviews, describing it as a "stunning achievement" and "deeply moving." She both navigates and honors the life of a complex woman, an artist who shattered gender, racial and class barriers. Violeta Parra collected and preserved Chilean folk music as a personal mission, now of huge national significance and made an important contribution to Chile's protest music movement. New Song. Thanks to life, underscores the power of art as a force for change. Parra represented voices that were otherwise unheard in her songs, notably women workers and indigenous peoples. She broke extraordinary barriers as a recording and visual artist working across paintings, ceramics and tapestries. In 1964 she became the first self taught Latin American visual artist to hold a solo exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts, housed in the Louvre, Paris, tragically in 1967 and this biography documents her travels throughout Latin America and Europe at the height of the Cold War. It's intertwined with her conflicting identities and the meaning of authenticity. This biography is a legacy work of passion and compassion.

Discover Ericka Verba https://erickaverba.com/

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: https://canartsaveus.com/

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Tere Chad is a multidisciplinary artist and curator from Chile, currently based in London. She is fast rising as an international artist and to date she has held seven solo exhibitions, completed seven residencies participated in more than 50 collective exhibitions and has curated over 20 shows on four different continents. Her practice includes sculpture, painting, poetry, performance, textiles, installation and silversmithing. Promoting Latin American art and culture is core to her work and the Global South informs her response to the climate crisis, migration, sustainability and humanity. In 2020, she was granted a global talent visa for exceptional promise to continue her practice here in the UK. She graduated with a Masters of Art in sculpture from the Royal College of Art and in 2021, she was accepted as a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Tere observes modern life and the impact of fast-changing technologies, media sensationalism and digital distortion on human connections. She elevates what ancient civilisations and indigenous knowledge can teach us. A significant and current project that began in 2017 is Neo-Norte or New North, an artistic research initiative that turns the world map upside down to challenge dominant geopolitical narratives and the displacement of power. Neo-Norte has showcased internationally with more than 565,000 visitors fostering cross-cultural dialogues for an interconnected world. Tere Chad, is as a deeply thoughtful, international artist with a global identity and strong Chilean roots.

Images are subject to copyright, courtesy of Tere Chad, please see credit list below.

Discover Tere Chad https://www.terechad.com/

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: https://canartsaveus.com/

IMAGE CREDITS

COLUMN ONE

Woven Hug 2.0, Tere Chad, Cordelia Rizzo (Documentation: Kavod Films); Flowerfield Arts Centre, Linen Biennale, Portstewart, Northern Ireland (2023).

Abrazo Entramado 1.0 (Woven Hug 1.0), Tere Chad, Cordelia Rizzo (CC BY NC-SA CONARTE); LABNL Lab Cultural Ciudadano, Monterrey, México (2022).

COLUMN TWO

6 Neo Norte 5.0, Act of Relational Art, Collaborators: Tere Chad, Tere Chad, Asia Artom, Concepción García Sánchez, Cindy Lilen, Anastasia Marcelja, Giada Marchese, Lidia Maugeri, Debra Pollarino, Ines Rocques, Alessandro Rebesani (Documentation: Movies Move Us); Spazio Zelda, Venice, Italy (2024).

COLUMN 3

Zurciendo Vacíos (Mending Voids), Tere Chad, Cordelia Rizzo, UDEM CRGS, Centro Cultural Plaza Fátima (Documentation: CC BY SA LABNL); LABNL, Monterrey, México (2023).

Zurciendo Vacíos (Mending Voids), Tere Chad, Cordelia Rizzo, UDEM CRGS, LABNL (Documentation: Grecia Evangelina); Centro Cultural Plaza Fátima, San Pedro Garza García, México (2023).

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Nicola Avramovich is not only considered one of Serbia's finest classical pianists, but one of the best of his generation. He is a sought after performer giving numerous recitals and chamber music concerts worldwide, including prestigious festivals and leading concert halls here in the UK, Nicola Avramovich is the recipient of numerous prestigious scholarships and awards, including the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellowship at the Royal College of Music in London. This fellowship is only awarded every two years to an outstanding pianist preparing for a career as an international soloist. He is an exciting, incredibly disciplined talent. Nicola is recognized as an exceptional talent, and he also has a deep appreciation of folklore. He interpreted Serbian folk music that he grew up with from a very early age on the piano. As an accomplished classical pianist, he has also celebrated these musical roots in his forthcoming release, Origins, which brings together music by composers from Serbia, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries. Nicola has composed and improvised folk melodies in this unique classical recording, which he has performed in several countries, including China, to a wonderful response and a European tour is to follow. His repertoire is described as “superb and authentic.” There is a beautiful message in his work that music has no boundaries. It is both transcending and unifying a common humanity that can be shared. In this episode you will also hear a performance extract, Nikola's own, stunning transcription of the Serbian folk dance, Vranje.

Discover Nikola Avramovich on Instagram @n_avramovic_

Nikola Avramovich performs Vranje https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQfrDQB8oTA

Genuin Record Label https://www.genuinclassics.com/_new/artist_1.php?k=848

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all audio interviews in this series.

Read only, text transcripts of every interview, news, reviews and your host, Paula Moore, are available here: https://canartsaveus.com/

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. PLEASE SHARE THIS FREE TO LISTEN SERIES AND HELP MAKE THE ARTS ALL OF OURS.