[ad_1]
Dinorah Márquez is the founder and director of the Latino Arts Strings Program at the United Community Center. She was named one of her recipients of Milwaukee Magazine’s Betty Award, which honors extraordinary women doing great work in Milwaukee.
When Marquez moved to the United States as a 10-year-old, he found himself in an environment where he could have been expelled from school for speaking his native Spanish. She experienced racism and bullying at school, as well as a dysfunctional and abusive home. Her Marquez said she felt like she had no voice until her music teacher introduced her to the violin and she found her new way to express herself.
After attending Northwestern University and performing music in Chicago, Marquez returned to Mexico and performed music there before moving to Milwaukee to complete his master’s degree. Marquez’s husband, already involved in her community center United, invited her to the event. She instantly fell in love with the organization. “It’s a great place that’s deeply rooted in our community and has served our community for 53 years,” Marquez said.
Marquez pitched the Latino Arts Strings program, not knowing what the reaction would be. She knew that it would take a significant investment of resources to make what she proposed come to fruition. The project was approved and quickly became popular.
This program focuses on teaching culture through music. Marquez said, “As immigrants or children of immigrants, this is a very important part because our culture is either misunderstood, poorly portrayed, or not spoken at all…doing it A good way was to make our family feel represented through music…that their kids were learning how to play.”
The program benefits not only music but also cultural progress. Marquez describes a student who attended Harvard University on a Full Ride Scholarship and is now a Harvard Director of Mariachi. The program has now grown to hundreds of students and his ten instructors, many of whom are former students. However, many students continue to perform, form their own groups, and keep the music and traditions alive.
[ad_2]
Source link
