Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center promotes appreciation of Puerto Rican and Latin American arts and culture, with a unique emphasis on African heritage. As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center hosted a historic Bomba exchange between Barcelona and Chicago that was supported through MacArthur's International Connections Fund. Against all odds, they collaborated during the pandemic in the fall of 2021 to preserve the art form through a series of performances, master classes, workshops, and recordings in each city.
Bomba is an Afro-Puerto Rican dance and musical tradition with roots in the Island's sugar plantations and history of African slavery more than 400 years ago but has since evolved as a form of cultural affirmation, expression, and resistance.
The Chicago-Barcelona collaboration featured an artistic exchange between Bomba con Buya, Chicago's premier Afro-Puerto Rican music group, and Mancha 'E Plátano, an all-female group of Puerto Rican immigrants and first-ever Bomba group in Barcelona. Video testimonials show how the experience created an opportunity to collaborate and preserve a cultural keystone.
