Arivel Figueroa

Arivel Figueroa is an arts and culture facilitator and music journalist born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her academic background, labor experiences and activist work have made her an authentic, engaged and professional human being. Her love and passion for theater took her to finish her first BA in Drama/Theater at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras, back in 2009. Later, she found herself working in the tourism industry, finishing her second BA in Cultural Tourism in 2014. She was awarded the “Recipient of the Medal of Highest Score” by the Faculty of University of Puerto Rico in 2014. At the same time, she was working for the Senate of Puerto Rico and in a few non-profit projects for local musicians. One of them was web and social media platform Clandestino PR that promotes, shares and spreads video/picture documentation about local artists to help them get audiences. This project provided her with an understanding of how the local music industry in Puerto Rico works, including the needs and policies that were missing to support artists' ideas. In Fall 2017, she proposed herself to continue cultivating an interest in culture, arts and music in the graduate program of Arts Politics at NYU, and in May 2018, Figueroa graduated from the MA. Her research work examines the areas of public policy and institutional administration, Latin American and Caribbean studies, and arts and cultural policies. After working as outreach intern at LaMama Experimental Theater, she discovered the urgency for helping artists and activists to achieve their work and goals. Currently living in NYC, she has found herself with the opportunity to work for the NYU Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics as event and programming coordinator. Follow her IG @arivelfigueroa @clandestinoprny and FB clandestinopr.ny      

What drew you to the MA Arts Politics program?

First, the intensity of the program, I was looking for a graduate program with a specific range of time and strong ideals of what I was doing already working in Puerto Rico. I was already involved in activist work in the university, public policy sector, and artistic scene; the program was a perfect fit and a path to the next step in my career. For the first time, I was looking outside the bubble.

How do you describe or identify your practice/ work?

Organizer and/or facilitator, student and teacher, activist and supporter, administrator and owner, plus follower and leader. I would you say my practice focuses on the advocacy of stage/backstage action of the activist, art and cultural ecosystem. I’m the defender and protector of an egalitarian and respectful actions, cultural conducts and artistic work.  

How did your experience in the program shape your work? Is there a particular moment or project that you can remember as having an impact?

Arts & Politics program shaped my world, not only practice/work, I was deconstructed and reconstructed. When I arrived to NYC and APP, I did not know what to expect, but I knew this was going to be a life changing experience for me. The program is created to discover, analyze, question, actionate and develop a sense of worked based on YOU/ME/WE, (you/me/we means your/mine/our experiences, thoughts, backgrounds, identities, bodies, relationships, languages, poetics, talents, and believes). That’s the magic of the program. I can say it shaped my whole world.  

What are some of the challenges and/or rewards of this program?

Theory