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2011 El Club de Protesta / The Protest Club

El club de protesta consisted in the creation of an association and activity center focusing on the repurposing of the protest song. Focusing primarily on the Latin and North American traditions of the protest song and on current issues surrounding immigration, El Club de Protesta held a series of public workshops organized in collaboration with Hudson Guild, a community center based in Chelsea. Check out our blog posts to see how it culminated in public concerts with professional musicians on both the High Line and at the Hudson Guild Theatre.

Pablo Helguera and composer Carlo Nicolau led workshop participants in the study of protest songs and guided the collaboration toward updating these lyrics to address current issues. Workshops were held in English and Spanish on May 9 & 17; June 7 & 21; and July 5 & 12.

“El club de protesta exists with full consciousness of its simultaneous timeliness and anachronism, of the cultural, class and language barriers that distance art from its subjects, of the fact that it is exclusive and progressive— but it is its contradictions that lie at the core of its mission: to bring together opposite forms, disparate ideas, and in so doing to write the new lyrics of current issues and public life.”
- From El Club de Protesta’s mission

In conjunction with the project, the Bildner Center, the Graduate Center - CUNY, New York presented:
'The Legacy of Protest Song in Mexico'
Speaker:
Pablo Helguera
Discussants:
Eric Zolov, Franklin and Marshall College
Aldo Sanchez Ramirez, The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York
Date: Monday, May 2, 2011, 4 PM
Location: The Graduate Center, Room 9206
365 Fifth Ave (@ 34th Street)
As part of a current public art project this summer being presented by More Art, and with the participation of Hudson Guild, Helguera discussed the legacy of the protest song in Latin America, its relevance in Mexico, and the potential of protest song to be revitalized today to address local and current issues.

Funding for this project has been provided in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with The NYC Council, by Hudson Guild, and Friends of the High Line.