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June 11, 2025

PRIAA Founder Lydia Perez on The Business Spotlight with Dori DeCarlo

Lydia Perez says "If you're not familiar with Puerto Rico, we'll introduce you to it."

Lydia Perez is the founder and the Artistic director of The Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and Advocacy (PRIAA), based in Rhode Island and founded in 1994. The institute champions the gathering and retention of cultural memory, language, and identity transmitting these across generations in the form of education through the arts, not only for Puerto Ricans, but for all Latinos and for all Rhode Island.

Through the arduous 32 years of Afro-Puerto Rican career in Rhode Island and throughout New England, Lydia Pérez brings with her the Cultural Heritage Center, where all PRIAA social and cultural activities are developed for its members and for the Diaspora in Rhode Island.

Yidell Rivera, a devoted member of the PRIAA family since 2000, has played a vital role in shaping the organization's mission and vision as an Assistant for the Board of Directors and through her work as part of her Volunteer internship.

The Puerto Rican Institute for the Arts and Advocacy, Inc. (PRIAA) is a non-profit organization founded in October 1994 by Puerto Rican artist Lydia Pérez, an internationally renowned performance and folklore artist, dedicated to promoting and facilitate citizenship and cultural awareness of Puerto Rico through the music and the arts. On October 30, 2021, PRIAA opened its Cultural Heritage Center at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket to continue internships and promotion in our collaborative space.

Join host Dori DeCarlo on The Business Spotlight and connect with PRIAA at PRIAA-RI.org and follow on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Please support UnsilencedVoices.org a global 501(c)3 nonprofit that empowers survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. We thank Smith Sisters and the Sunday Drivers for our theme song, "She is You".

Be sure to connect with us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and come tell us your story!

WordofMomRadio.com - sharing the wisdom of women, in business and in life.

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WEBVTT

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She is sure, she is true, She is straw Istra,

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she is true, is true, she is Braise bray Is

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she is you.

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Hello, everyone, Welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio. Here

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on the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host,

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Dori Di Carlo. And you know we are here week

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after week breaking those myths that morepreneurs and business women,

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especially those of us building our businesses from home, that

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we're just dabbling in between bake sales and getting our

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nails done.

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We're not.

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We are smart, we are savvy, and we are sharing

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the wisdom of women in business and in life. And

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I am so excited to be bringing today's guests into

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Word of Mom Radio and having them share the amazing

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work that they are doing. In Rhode Island. Lydia Perez

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is the founder and artistic director of the Puerto Rican Institute.

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For the Arts and Advocacy PRIA.

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As it is very well known and it's based in

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Rhode Island and founded in nineteen ninety four. Yadel Rivera

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is the administrative assistant to Priya and Lydia's daughter. So

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for me, as a monbradour, getting to see mother and

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daughter working together is always a joy.

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For me.

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Pria champions the gathering and retention of cultural memory, language

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and identity, transmitting needs across generations in the form of

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education through the arts, not only for Puerto Ricans, but

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for all Latinos and for all Rhode Island. As the

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founder and executive director of Priya, Lydia has an extensive

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record of promoting activities that increase cross cultural understanding, cultural

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awareness and self esteem of children and adults. Lydia has

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spent the last twenty nine years as a performer and

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cultural educator activist in the US, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

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She is a presenter, singer, drummer, dancer, composer, poetry and artisan.

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She has been recognized as a community asset by many

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organizations in New England throughout the arduous thirty two years

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of Afro Puerto Rican career throughout New England. Lydia Perez

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brings with her the Cultural Heritage Center where all preasocial

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and cultural activities are developed for its members and for

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the dispora in Rhode Island. I could continue on, but

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I really want to bring these two amazing women into

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our shows. So Lydia and Yedell welcome to Word of

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mom Radio.

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Thank you very much to having me here with you.

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Thank you very much for inviting a story.

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My pleasure, and I would love for you to take

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us on your journey Lydia and share how you came

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to develop Ria.

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Wow, that was long, long times ago. You're talking about

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every three years ago. So I started this with a

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birthday party with my friends. I just remember she invited

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me to be the happy birth of his son, and

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then I would go with my fan this is a tambourine,

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a small tambourine, and then I ain't seeing a song

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A happy birthday to you. With the rhythm of the plena,

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can you explain to her what is that?

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Okay? So Blena is an Afro Puerto Rican traditional music.

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It's often called the sung newspaper because it's used as

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a medium a tool for gossip, or for social commentary,

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or just basically just saying the news, or because it

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was developed during a time on the island where the

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most common people couldn't read or write, so they couldn't

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read the newspapers. I was for the high nobility, for

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the landlords, not for the common folk who work the field,

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and so how they got their news around was through song,

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word of mouth through song, and what better way to

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go from town to town than carrying around little hand

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drums and making up cute little verses about oh yeah,

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this squan e though had a fight with Juliana and

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now he's living in the doghouse. Aha, isn't that funny

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type of thing. It's a cultural aspect that has been

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passed down through generations and it's a staple on the island,

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not just blenna, but also another genre called bomba, but

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that's we'll get into that later. But blenna is basically

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the more mobile and the type that you march and

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dance too. You would see it most commonly in festivals,

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in carnivals and parties, Like mom said at a birthday

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party where she used the hand drum and the rhythms

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of blenna to sing this little boy happy birthday, and

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it was really cute. I guess it.

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This is flena.

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It's a wonderful way. I love that this began at

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a party for a child.

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Of course.

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Yeah, talk to us about Priya and who are its

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people well.

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Prea is a non profit organization dedicated to embrace our

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Puerto Rican and traditional and heritage of course, and then

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PRIA is three organizations that improved leadership through the arts.

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Then we started doing it with Apprentice. Always had to

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be with Apprentice.

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Because this is the way that we increase our community.

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PRIA is the heart of the Puerto Rican community in

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Rhoe Island right now and it is known for everybody

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in regional and national leave.

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We are very proud of our work.

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It's amazing, it really is, and especially starting thirty three

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years ago where awareness. My mother is pht Rican, so

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you know Mayo Boilita, when it was funny, nothing angered

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her more. We're talking sixty years ago. When she would

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see a sign in Spanish, she would get angry about it.

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She really would, because.

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She was like, you know, I came to this country,

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I had to learn English.

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She would just go on and on and on and

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on and on.

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And I grew up at a time where you didn't

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make your child bilingual. I should be trilingual because my

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other side of the family was from Italy, both my grandmothers,

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so my nanny and Mioita, and she would speak Italian,

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the other one would be speaking Spanish and their dialects

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because in Italy there's so many different dialects. But their

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dialect was so close that they would just be sitting

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there chatting away. We would laugh. But again, I love

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seeing the embracing of the culture and not the drowning

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out of the culture. So how have you been celebrating

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the differences as we all lived together?

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How were of doing this?

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Well, it's funny you should actually mention that story about

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your grandma being angry at the Spanish science, because in

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our history, we've noticed that a lot of these immigrant

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and migrant families have been trying purposely to not neglect,

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but purposely deny their children teaching them Spanish or teaching

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them about their roots and history, thinking that it would

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be better for them if they were so Americanized, that

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they would integrate directly into the American people. We're advocating

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for the opposite. It closes so many doors when you

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do that. These families don't understand. Teach your kids Spanish,

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teach your kids your primary language, English is your secondary

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language in the situation. Teach your kids your roots, your heritage.

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It opens up so many doors. Do not deny them

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their culture. These are the messages that we as an organization,

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we advocate. We are invited by the school administrations to

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go into the school systems and they have a small

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twenty thirty minute break field trip into the auditorium, take

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a break from their classes, and we get to teach

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them about our culture. We get to teach them about Lena,

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we get to teach them about Bomba, and at the

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same time we ask them, Hey, if your grandma or

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if your parents speak Spanish, ask them tell them that

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you want to learn. It's okay to be who you are.

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Don't deny it. This is an extremely important message that

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we have been pushing for these past thirty odd years.

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Do not be afraid of who you are. It is

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not shameful.

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I love that, I really do. For those of you

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out there.

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The best way to teach your children, because they are

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little sponges, they will asure everything. One of you speak English,

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the other one speaks Spanish, and that way, one parent

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is communicating in English, but the other one is always

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communicating in Spanish, and the kids learned.

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To go back and forth and back and forth. It

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is the easiest way for.

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Them to learn both languages, because again, they are little sponges.

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My second language was sign language, so when I would

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give my kids a piece of bread, I would sign

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bread for them. My middle son was speech delayed, so

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I taught him to sign. He couldn't speak, and I

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used to tell him, you have to say it or

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you have to sign it, but you have to tell

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mommy what you want because I can't understand you. And

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his speech therapist, oh, well, of course he doesn't speak.

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You taught him to sign.

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I looked at her.

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I said, wow, he supposed to communicate it exactly.

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Thank you.

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So that's when saying, you know what, the more you

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introduce your children to other languages, other cultures, it makes

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it part of their being and really does, and it's

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so important. We're talking about being in Rhode Island. Where

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are you in Rhode Island? And how far out does

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Pria reach?

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Hi?

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Who?

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We're located in Patucket, Rhode Island at ten zero five

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Main Street. How are you? By the way, Our doors

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are open to anyone who wants to come in and

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wants to learn, so please go ahead. I was saying

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that playfully, but yes, that is our address, ten zero

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five Main Street, Patucket's Sweet twenty two twenty eight. It's

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a big brick building. It's called Whole Artist Village and

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our reach Priya's reach. We've been able to Actually, for

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the past thirty odd years, it was us who traveled

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to them, not them coming to us. So we would

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be invited to cities such as Springfield, such as Boston,

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such as Portland, Maine. We went all the way down

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to Georgia, floridaa Virginia, as far north as New Ham,

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I'm sure Vermont, Maine. We traveled all of New England.

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Mom herself has gone to San Antonio, Texas. She went

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to Cuba one time without man. I was a little mad,

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but it's fine. We traveled to where they invite us

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so we can spread our mission out to other people.

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It's only been recent within the last three years that

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we actually opened up our brick and mortar center here

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in Patucket. We were tired of traveling out, so we

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were like, okay, now it's time for the opposite. Now

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we sit here and now if people want to go

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and they come to us, yes, okay. And it's been beautiful,

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it's been great. Like I said, our doors are open,

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come come check us out.

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So our commitment, our mission is the same. So we

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tried to.

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Reach our community, listen, to emerge, then to sense it

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of pride of their culture, identity, the language, and the

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same time acquire that, acquire the commitment to mainteen development

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and transmit that pride generational linings.

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I focused rush through.

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The arts and expiration to mainteen the heritage of the

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Puerto Rican population. We advocate for the respect with the

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service as American citizen who contribute to the social politica,

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economic and cultural well being on entire nations.

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Yes, on that note, please think of what Lydia just said.

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Please think of what she just said about the citizens

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of the United States in Puerto Rico and what we

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are doing here in this country. Yes, we are going

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to take a very quick break to say thank you

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to our sponsors and we will be back here in

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just a moment.

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Onward of Mom Radio.

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She is brave, she is bold, she is you, and

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we want to tell your story. Are you ready to

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share your journey with us on Word of Mom Radio.

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Go to wordommradio dot com and register as a guest.

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We want to tell your story because when you win,

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we all win. And we're back here on Word of

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Mom Radio. We are talking with Lydia Perez and Idel

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Rivera from Priya, the Puerto Rican Institute for Arts and

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advocacy that is based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Now, Yes,

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at a wonderful place, Pope Artiste Village that is doing

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so much to reach out into the community and is

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developing such a wonderful I was there the other day.

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The Latin quarter that you have now, it's so fabulous.

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So with that happening, you now have your carnival that

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is happening. And I want to talk about this because

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it is a week of amazing workshops going on that

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will culminate in this carnival on June twenty eighth.

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So talk to us about this and let everybody know

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all of the wonderful things going on.

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So, yes, carnival, where do we start? Okay, We're starting

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our carnival's week on June twenty fifth. From June twenty

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fifth to June twenty eighth, we are holding a carnival

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called La Pegenya Sanse the Roe Island Sansea. Sanse means

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the little Sanse, And what a Sanse is is that

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it is a shortened version of how to say Saint Sebastian.

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So what it is is that the Carnival of Saint

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Sebastian is the largest carnival on Puerto Rico. It's held

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in January, and it is the carnival. When anybody outside

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of the island or think about the traditional or the

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typical Caribbean carnival, they usually think of either Marti Gras

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or those kind naval with the ladies with the feathers,

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or they think of our carnival, which is Fativa San Sebastian,

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the Festival of Saint Sebastian in Puerto Rico.

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It is huge.

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A lot of people just pile into the main street

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in San Juan, Puerto Rico actually named Saint Sebastian Street.

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So what it is is that each city, each town

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in Puerto Rico has a patron saint that they that

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they pay homage to. And the patron saint of San Juan,

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the capital, is Saint Sebastian. He has a primary street

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in downtown or Old Sant Juan, which is where this

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festival takes place. And so what we're aiming for is

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that we are trying to take little bits and pieces

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of that festival, little pieces of our home, and bring

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it to you guys in Rhode Island in Patucket. Right

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here at the Oupartist village right outside of our little center,

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the Cultural Heritage Center, we are planning on throwing a

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mini version of that festival. So we have food vendors,

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we have music, we have dance. We have a big

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head kavasudo caricatures endemic to our culture. We have ahiganthas,

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which are the tricks to spirits that love to play

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pranks on people. We have poetry, we have every form

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of expression that you want to see in a carnival.

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We're going to have it.

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Plus it's not just for Puerto Ricans, it's for everybody.

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Come along, we have fun. We also invited our other friends,

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our Dominican friends, our Brazilian friends, Peruvian friends, the Colombian friends,

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to everybody, to include everybody to have fun.

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So on Wednesday, June twenty five, we started with Behaganthi

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making workshop and that would be twelve noon to four

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and then we would jump to six thirty pm to

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eight pm with plan of music with the small tambourine

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and then introduction of the behigante alava.

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Funny something like that.

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Then in June twenty sixth we will have a health

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tree exhibition. We will have a seedision of mess from

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Legacy High School trumpetok student from there was with us

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at three or four making mess, began mess, so they

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will be there. They will be with us, you know

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in the exhibition also the hard three that we have

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a four months with then doing the same introduction of

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our mess and Behegante and then all of that adapt

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day with exhibition.

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On twenty six. Also on twenty seven.

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We will have a worship of leather restoration of our drums. No,

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you have to fix it because a long time, long time,

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you know, they need fixes. So we will have that

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worship also and the twenty seven we will have worship

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of Behiganatee Literature and storytellers and see Staring Taylor and

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that will be six thirty till eight and then we

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will have bombas and the big party will be in

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June twenty eight to celebrate the cannumber of all of our.

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Past work with children and everything.

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That day will be in that moment would be in

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the sunsay La Pequina sunse.

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How long is the carnival from one to one on

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the twenty eighth.

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From noon to four pm.

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I really encourage you to go. Is going to be

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so much fun, So tell us about the bomba music.

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Bombamba job a bit of poetry there. What bomba is

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basically Black storytelling in verse with African drumming. So little

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tiny history lesson. Back during the days when the Caribbean

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islands were being colonized, they brought over the Africans to

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work the sugar cane fields as slaves, and they prohibited

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these slaves from communicating with each other basically just talking.

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So what they decided to do was that in order

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to communicate between tribes, they would sneak in music. And

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so just like how we explained in Plena before, bomba

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precedes blena. So what it is is that they would

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use music as a disguise is to transmit messages through

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these celebrations that the masters would allow them to have,

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you know, after hours at night, during downtime. So what

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it is is that bomba is basically just storytelling and

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messages through music and dance, through music and art.

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And then yeah, it's amazing how music can convey so

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much and how that is how these slaves were using

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this to communicate each other, to send messages.

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Yes, it's where just the power of music.

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And that has been passed down generationally from master to apprentice,

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from master to apprentice, and the Bomba music is so

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prevalent on the island that they have actual gatherings of

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Bomba masters and big festivals, big bombasos, they're called bombasos

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where it's a big celebration of Bomba music. Drummers from

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all over the island and come in and they don't compete,

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but they come to show off their skills because if

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you watch these masters at work, their hands drumming on

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those drums are works of art. Oh my goodness, the

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type of rhythms that they can produce, my goodness.

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I'm so looking forward to this, I really am.

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What we are doing with the kids in Legacy High

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School and the Heart Treat Tribe is that we are

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teaching them how to make their own Vehaganta masks. So

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for the past three to four months we have been

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teaching them how to make their own masks out of

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paper mache, when traditionally they would be either made out

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of paper mache or out of coconut husks. The North

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uses coconuts, the South uses paper mache. We don't have

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coconuts here, so we were left with paper mache. But

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these kids are loving those lessons and talk about.

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The our Neil Behaganti and.

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We do when we are debuting them in a carn.

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We have a friend, artist friend who's coming directly from

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Puerto Rico who has been developing new Vehan mask out

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of craft foam. So they are lighter, arier, and a

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lot more vibrant than the traditional paper mache are coconut masks.

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They're a lot lighter, they look adorable. I'm looking at

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them right now of ve from the town of Bons Bons.

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It is a town in the south of Puerto Rico.

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Remember what I say, the paper mache masks are made

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and they are characterized by these long paper mache looking

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horns and very ornate and this animal and they have

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a lot of animalistic features, whereas we have vehigant this

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from the north of Puerto Rico lois size. They're traditionally

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made out of coconut husks, so as you can see,

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it's emulating coconut husks and the horns are the coconut barbs.

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He's an up and coming artist in Puerto.

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Rico named Ken Kenneth Melande and he has developed these

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tie off.

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Mass absolutely so as we are wrapping up what do

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you want to leave our listeners with and how may

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they reach out to you and feel free? If you

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want to leave this message in Spanish, okay okay, I

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would do.

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Both jokio in bitar at todo at too lahine.

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I would like to formally introduce all of the beautiful

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people of Patucka and Rhode Island and all your.

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Listeners perto Rico, perto Rico.

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We invite you all to partake in our culture because

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if you guys can't go visit our island, we will

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more than gladly bring our islands traditions to you.

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Locate part trail Puerto Rico.

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And we are here to celebrate what it is popular arts,

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popular traditional heritage cultural arts of Puerto Rico.

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At Las Laco, Puerto Rico, mos.

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So, currently a cultural heritage center, we feature five most

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popular traditional arts from Puerto Rico, which are Santos de

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Paloo and Madeira Wooden saint carvings. It is a lost

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art from the island. It has lost all religious iconography.

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What it is is that each house used to have

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their own wooden saints that they would pay homage to.

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Lydia Perez

Founder/Program Director

The Puerto Rican Institute for the Arts and Advocacy, Inc., (PRIAA) is dedicated to promoting civic and cultural awareness services for the Puerto Rican in Rhode Island.
(PRIAA) runs Caribbean Arts programs in the community and in education. We are a creative performing arts organization, and as an integrated arts and academic facility, we have nurtured future 21st century leaders.
Our Cultural Heritage Center is a new space available for teaching, learning, and cultural exchange in Rhode Island.
PRIAA has held traditional Puerto Rican festivals in Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Providence. These festivals are known in Puerto Rico as "Fiestas de Pueblo". According to the 1996 Rhode Island Monthly Magazine, p. 31. refer to us and we quote: "It was more than a festival, it was" a meeting in which the Puerto Rican and Latino communities merged".
Since 1996 PRIAA have collaborated with great leaders in the Puerto Rican and other ethnicity Community. Now, we have brought our Fiesta de Pueblo under the Caribbean Arts program for Education throughout New England.
PRIAA works to advocate for the Puerto Rican community. Our goal is to reach out to our Puerto Rican communities to keep and maintain a sense of pride in their cultural identity and language, and to demonstrate the importance of maintaining that intergenerational pride. We use the arts as our main tool to maintain the preservation of Puerto Rican culture in our state and others state in Nationwide. We advocate for our Puerto Ricans as Americans and maintain the respect we dese…Read More

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