The Mary Magdalene Celebration 2017

PRESS RELEASE

A Creative Feast in Honor of Mary Magdalene, A Saint for Those Who Believe in the Redeeming Quality of the Creative Act

This July 22, 12 noon – 9:30 p.m., at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 in East Harlem, NYC, there will be a peculiar all-day gathering. Artist Tanya Torres and singer-songwriter Raquel Z. Rivera, together with artists from many other disciplines, will come together at the Mary Magdalene Celebration in honor of the muse and symbol they have dubbed “Our Lady of Lexington, patroness of all creative ones who believe in the redeeming quality of the creative act.” The Mary Magdalene Celebration is a free event and open to all who love Mary Magdalene or would like to know her.

The celebration begins at 12 mid-day with The Traveling Red Tent Sisterhood, a ceremony for women and girls centered on the theme of menstruation. Also at noon starts the all-day Magdalene Fair, a gathering of creatives exhibiting and selling their crafts, books and objects. At 2:00 p.m. dance artist Corazón Tierra will lead a community dance workshop inspired by the Magdalene. At 4:00 p.m. is the opening of the exhibition titled Magdalene Underground: 21 Images Honoring Mary Magdalene featuring local and international artists. At 6:00 p.m. will be the presentation of the play Magdala: Stories of the Net and the Sea, by Xiomara Evans. It all culminates at 8:00 p.m. with the Promesa, when Raquel Z. Rivera will lead the singing of Las 7 salves de La Magdalena / 7 Songs of Praise for the Magdalene, a communal, a cappella musical offering to Mary Magdalene.

The artists go beyond the most traditional interpretations of the Biblical Mary Magdalene to explore in art, dance, word and song this Christian character that has emerged in the 21st Century as the most accomplished disciple of Jesus Christ, Apostle to the Apostles, priestess, mother, the Goddess in Christianity, and a constant guiding presence for the leading artists.

This year’s Mary Magdalene Celebration has special significance since it marks 10 years since the artists have been celebrating the Magdalene in community.

To join the Mary Magdalene Celebration, please visit Magdalene.org and sign up for updates and RSVP.

Hosted by La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña and El Barrio’s Art Space.