Colorado Springs police arrested 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich on five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury. Patrons at the bar helped to subdue him after the shots were fired.
Best Artist
2022
https://southfloridagaynews.com/Local/best-of-2022-palm-beach.html
Rolando Barrero is the owner of the Box Gallery in West Palm Beach. He and his Gallery have been recognized as the Best Artist and Best Gallery of 2022. This is Barrero’s second year being selected as Best Artist. Best Gallery won in a reader’s choice category.
Of his artistry, Barrero said, “I try to create culturally relevant and thought-provoking work without compromise.” His latest piece, “The Family,” was recently installed as a public art piece at the Opportunity Early Childhood Education & Family Center in West Palm Beach.
“The Box Gallery will continue to maintain its reputation as a First Amendment space where all voices can be amplified through the arts,” Barrero said of his gallery. Barrero cultivates diverse styles of art and does not prioritize any one style over another.
“All art is welcome here,” he said.
2021
https://southfloridagaynews.com/Local/palm-beach-s-best-lgbt-activist-artist-is.html
Rolando Chang Barrero has done a lot for Palm Beach County, so perhaps that’s why readers voted him as the Best LGBT Activist, Best Artist, and his art gallery in West Palm Beach won for Best Art Gallery.
Executive Director of Compass, Julie Seaver won this category so many times we decided to rename it LGBT Activist (NOT Named Julie Seaver), with her blessing!
Chang Barrero created the Pajaro Pride Wall Project, an auction that has over 100 artists, friends, allies, and community leaders creating art to sell.
“ I’m very honored to be included on this list among so many friends and associates,” Chang Barrero said. “It’s a great honor to be recognized by our community and I am very grateful. I’m very happy to be able to continue to serve my community.”
He has been creating art for over 40 years, according to his bio. He is a multimedia artist with a portfolio including fashion design, film, painting, acting, and more. His activism and his art are often intertwined, which is why the exhibits that his art gallery hosts feature topics that range from human rights to personal identity. Barrero has built a gallery in which it's easy to get lost, yet somehow find a piece of yourself along the way.
The Box Gallery
www.TheBoxGallery.info
GARTEL: MEDIA BLITZ PALM BEACH
September 3 – October 1, 2022
The Box Gallery
811 Belvedere Rd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33405
www.TheBoxGallery.info
Fine Art Exhibition: GARTEL: MEDIA BLITZ PALM BEACH
Reception: September 3, 2022 at 7 p.m.
Laurence Gartel, known as the Father of Digital Art has been pioneering the Computer aesthetic for over 45-years. It has been a global journey showing the world a new way to communicate. Gartel and his new visual language sparked interest delivering the keynote speech at the First Pan Pacific Computer Conference in Melbourne, Australia. His arrival triggered much anticipated excitement landing him on the front page of The Australian newspaper in 1985. This was a decade after Gartel discovered analog system computers working with video guru Nam June Paik at Media Study/Buffalo in upstate New York.
The “Being Heard, Being Seen” art exhibit, a celebration of self-identity and expression by local artists who identify as LGBTQ+, is on display through April 9 at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County.
A 7-foot figure offering masks, interactive poetry and paintings covered with shiny, smooth resin are part of the exhibit that explores the rights, representation and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community.
“The goal of this exhibition is to encourage everyone to be their authentic selves, to champion understanding, compassion and important conversations, and to create a safe space where everyone feels heard and seen for who they are — without question or compromise. When we do that, we make room for real impact,” said Dave Lawrence, the Cultural Council president and chief executive officer.
COVID-19 has been a powerful influence in the artwork, said Jessica Ransom, director of Artist Services. Solitude, kindness and people masking their feelings during the outbreak are vividly shown in the artwork, she said.
“We have amazing artists in our community. They are putting their hearts and beings into their work,” said Ransom.
Viewers can interact with a poetry exhibit by Stacie M. Kiner and her partner Dianna I. Rosenberg. After reading the poetry, viewers are invited to write down and submit their reactions on sheets of paper.
“I want everyone to have their basic needs met,” wrote one viewer.
An exhibit by Rolando Chang Barrero, founder of the Box Gallery in West Palm Beach, is a series of acrylics showing about 50 faces lined up on the wall. Colorful, mysterious and expressive, they show joy, hope, surprise, love, sadness and fear.
The colors do not match the expressions. A fearful face is painted bright orange connoting happiness. A grinning, eyebrow-raised face is grayish, reflecting sadness.
“That’s where the mask comes in. Many of us were wearing masks to the world during the pandemic, hiding our real emotions,” said Ransom.- continue reading
Thursday, January 27, 2022, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Advance registration required. Free for members of the Cultural Council; $20 for nonmembers.
All people wish to be heard and seen for exactly who they are without question or compromise. Artists are uniquely capable of visually capturing and communicating their emotions and essence through their work. This exhibition will include artists who identify as LGBTQ+ as well as artists whose work interrogates issues of rights, representation, and the lived experience of LGBTQ+ individuals. This exhibition is presented in collaboration with artist Jose Alvarez.
Some leaders are more hesitant to use "Latinx" because they say it's used to paint people with Spanish-speaking ancestry with too broad a brush — a criticism often launched at media organizations, universities, and governments that refer to Hispanic people and Spanish speakers as if they are a monolithic group.
"Latinx is an attempt by leftists to rework our home language," said Rolando Chang Barrero, a Cuban LGBTQ+ community organizer, art gallery owner and member of the Palm Beach County Democratic Caucus.
"Classifying us as Latinx or even as Hispanic is a misnomer that does not represent the 33 foreign countries represented in my community. Each country is as nuanced as the United States," Barrero added.
Pan-ethnic labels used to describe people from Spanish-speaking countries are not an invention of the 21st century, Barrero said.
The 1980 U.S. Census was the first decennial count to ask respondents if they were "Hispanic." Previously, the Census attempted to quantify people by asking if they had Spanish surnames or whether they spoke Spanish at home.
In 2020, the Census asked respondents whether they were of "Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin." The question included a space to specify a person's country of ethnic origin.
But even those terms are nuanced.
Hispanic origin refers to any person whose family comes from a Spanish-speaking country, whereas Latino or Latina refers to a person whose family comes from a Latin American country in Central or South America or the Caribbean.
Barrero said the introduction of umbrella terms like Hispanic and Latinx lead to generalizations about people who hail from Spanish-speaking countries instead of a greater understanding of their cultures and traditions.
"They’re using the word like 'the Hispanic market' and '(the) Hispanic voting block.' That has caused a lot of interference in understanding who we are as a people," Barrero said. "We share a language, but that’s where it begins and where it ends."
Barrero, a gay person who uses both he/him and ze/zir pronouns, said while he takes issue with non-Hispanic people using Latinx to describe many communities all together, people who are Hispanic and nonbinary or transgender should feel supported when they use it.
"I completely respect someone's pronouns and their identity, but we should not (all) fall under that label." Barrero said. "We have many nuanced people in our community and that hasn't reached the mainstream."
Barrero and others are pushing for an understanding of "intersectionality" — a respect for all of a person's identities when considering their life experience — in Hispanic and Latin American communities.
Starting at 9am and ending at 9pm, we will be
broadcasting LIVE from the CIC in Miami for a 12-hour livestream.
Tune in throughout the day as we raise awareness for the barriers faced by justice-involved people and raise funds to help provide FREE legal services throughout Miami-Dade County.
Donate at GiveMiamiDay.org/FLJC
Our livestream will include guest speakers, Miami trivia, special cocktails by the Mexican Mixologist, a smoked pork
Cuban sandwich recipe by
BaconCartel’s Chef Jeffrey Schlissel,
The Box Gallery curator, Rolando Chang Barrero
and plenty of surprises! It is sure to be a day of fun, education, and philanthropy as we try to reach our fundraising goal of $60k.
Join the livestream by visiting any of our Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or on our homepage at FLJC.org starting at 9am.
Please share this link with your friends, family, and coworkers as we make this Give Miami Day our most successful one yet.
We encourage you to provide a contribution of any size as we try to make a meaningful change in our community. Your giving will go to expanding FLJC’s legal services and providing holistic care to more people in Miami.
Donate at GiveMiamiDay.org/FLJC
Join Me in Making a Change with Florida Justice Center
I am proud to be the Community Relations Manager at Florida Justice Center. I'm asking you to support this revolutionary organization that is changing lives in Miami this #GiveMiamiDay
As the only nonprofit legal aid organization serving Miami that’s dedicated to providing free holistic legal and social services, FLJC stands for what I believe in: justice, equality, and second chances.
My personal goal is to raise $2,500 to aid returning citizens. By giving you're supporting programs that help Miamians get better jobs and get back on their feet.
Last year, FLJC touched the lives of 153 people, but so far in 2021 we've already served over 2,000 people! In 2022, Our goal is to reach over 4,000 people and to increase the number of legal clinics in the Miami community.
Thank you for supporting me and this very important cause.
-Michelle Damone
9AM – Coffee Talk with Alex and Jonathan: Discussion of Give Miami Day, FLJC, and the day to come
10AM – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Natalie Robinson Bruner of Glad Ed Solutions: Discussion of unconscious bias
10:30AM – George Floyd Movement Retrospective and Look Forward with Melba Pearson, Esq.
10:50AM – Miami Beach Ordinance Criminalizing Recording of Police: Discussion with Alex Saiz and our client Bree.
11:00AM – Immigration topics with Jessenia Rosales, Esq., Alex Saiz, Esq., and William Sanchez, Esq.: Effects of a conviction on immigration status and the importance of identification documents
11:20AM – Temas de inmigración con Jessenia Rosales, Esq., Alex Saiz, Esq., Y William Sanchez, Esq .: Efectos de una condena en el estado migratorio y la importancia de los documentos de identificación
12:00PM – Chef Jeffrey Schlissel of BaconCartel shows how to make a Smoked Pork Cuban Sandwich followed by relaxing music, trivia, and a discussion of the news.
12:50PM – Know Your Rights: Protesting
1PM – Discussion of the challenges faced by returning citizens from jail and prison with Rolando Barrero and Jonathan Bleiweiss
1:45PM – Know Your Rights: Traffic Stops
2PM – Representative Matt Willhite provides legislative updates and discusses issues of concern to Floridians
3PM – History of Cubans in Miami
3:30PM – Know Your Rights: If Immigration Arrests You with Gina Fraga
4PM – Know Your Rights: What To Do If You’re Arrested
5PM – Give Miami Day Cocktail #1 with Mexican Mixologist
5:05PM – Criminal law’s disproportionate affect on the Transgender community
5:25PM – History of Gay Miami
6PM – Give Miami Day Cocktail #2 with Mexican Mixologist
6:05PM – Discussion of Cannabis Topics, Sponsored by Green Thumb Industries
7PM – Give Miami Day Cocktail #3 with Mexican Mixologist
7:05PM – Discusión sobre temas de cannabis
8PM – Give Miami Day Cocktail #4 with Mexican Mixologist
8:05PM – Wrapping up the day and what’s next
