| NYISE grads tour The Dominican Republic with Project Troubador |
Between October 8th and October 22nd, 2006 NYISE graduates Arnaldo Vargas, Alvin Suarez and Derek Suarez spent two weeks staging performances in schools, orphanages, old age homes, AIDS patient facilities, etc., in the Dominican Republic with their band Los Ciegos Del Barrio. The trip was organized and financed by Project Troubador, a not-for-profit NGO that uses live performance to bridge cultural, racial, and ethnic barriers and to foster a different view of America and Americans in the developing world. Over the two week span, Los Ciegos presented twenty two free performances of their merengue, bachata, and salsa stylings, including one in a school for visually impaired students in Santo Domingo . Interest in Los Ciegos and their music ran high at every venue and plans to return with assistance from several local NGOs are already in the works. Project Troubador's founder and Artistic Director is Eliot Osborn, at one time a music teacher for Schermerhorn and Van Cleve students at NYISE. |
| In this photo above, Arnaldo Vargas is playing the accordion, Alvin Suarez is seated to his right behind a microphone, and Derek Suarez is standing behind the conga drums. full sized image |
The New York Institute for Special Education |
