Nine years ago, during a writing workshop his sophomore year in high school, Poet Noel Quiñones was given a notebook full of blank pages and told to fill one page a day. Unbeknownst to him, the daily free-write exercises would catapult Noel into an amazing journey of self-expression and self-awareness. After an introduction to HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, Noel became fixated on New York City's slam scene, mentoring with Urban Word NYC and touring nationally as an award-winning slam poet.
It was during one of these slams when Noel found himself in friendly opposition with another notable Afro-Latino poet that Noel questioned the inclusion of Latino poets in the slam community. During a round that saw two Latino poets vying for credibility, a spectator would go on to tell Noel "it can only be one of you" an insinuation that only one token Latino would move on to compete for a viable spot in the final round. It was this disappointing yet affirming moment that would push Noel to change the ways in which Latino poets were represented not only in local slam competitions but nationally.
Noel says:
what began as an amazing journey trying to understand the intersectionality and positionality in America as a Latino and Afro-Latino became even more confusing when trying to find my place between black and white and trying to understand what it meant to be latino overall.
While reflecting on his craft, Noel mentions the struggle it has become to find places that support Latino poetry and Latino slam. While New York City has become a hub for spoken word artistry and performance, Black American artistry and White artistry have become the omnipresent de facto in literary spaces. While diasporic community initiatives like the long-standing Brooklyn open mic Capicu exist, they're few and far in between. Capicu, while a welcoming inclusionary space, does not host slam competitions.
After representing the Bowery Poetry Slam Team this past summer Noel realized that the lack of Latino and Afro-Latino's competing in slam was not exclusive to New York City but problematic on a national level. This widening gap pushed Noel to welcome fifteen Bronx creatives into his home for a brainstorming session that would seek to expand the visibility of Latinx performance artists from the Bronx but also further cement the borough as a home for urban artistry.
Thursday, February 23rd at 7 pm, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture will open its doors and host the inaugural showcase for Project ‘X’. Project ‘X’ is a grassroots initiative that seeks to raise the voices of Latino artists from the Bronx. The line-up is to include a who's who of poets, musicians, singers, rappers, and visual artists who will also display and sell their art. Project ‘X’ will host two events per month. One will be an open mic and the other will be a poetry slam specifically catering to Latinx slam poets. Noel says the long-term vision is to add to the already influential history of the Bronx as an arts mecca thus allowing for the continuation of Bronx artistry to flourish and by extension broaden its platform.
Project X aims to recenter and elevate the Bronx as a birthplace of artistic innovation. Led by diverse intergenerational Latinx individuals representing the diaspora of the Caribbean, Central and South America, we believe in the resilience of our borough to safeguard our past and create hubs for our future. Culturally entrenched in Latinidad yet invested in the artistic expression of all people, we are firmly committed to preserving The Bronx’s legacy of indigenous art, bringing awareness to socio-cultural issues, mentoring and empowering artists of all ages, while contributing to the long history of Latinx artistry in the United States. Through bi-weekly arts events, intersectional workshop spaces, and the reaffirming of our community through art-based education, we will offer a safe haven for Bronx artists and beyond. -Project X Mission Statement
Although Hostos will host the Project ‘X’ kickoff, the organization is currently seeking a permanent home in the Bronx while also raising funds through its open mics to send the very first all Latinx Bronx slam team to the Nationals in 2018. For more information on Project X and how to support the initiative please visit Project 'X' .