Successful Presence of GFDD / FUNGLODE at the 8th Edition of the Dominican Book Fair, Celebrated Last Weekend in N.Y.

The Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) successfully participated in the 8th edition of the Dominican Book Fair in NY, collaborating with the celebration of important activities.

Several events, including screenings of Dominican short films, panels, recycled art workshops and a photography exhibition, among other activities, took
place at the Book Fair, held from September 26-28, 2014 at Gregorio Luperón High School, located in Manhattan. This year the event was dedicated to Rei Berroa, a renowned Dominican writer and professor living in the United States who has published more than 40 works.

Two important activities
were celebrated on Saturday, 27. At midday, at the Salón Taller de Artesanía Normandía Maldonado, the conference “Tres historias, un país: cultura, artesanía y conciencia ambiental en la República Dominicana” showed GFDD’s short films:El Larimar: de la mina a la joyería; Salga el mal y entre el bien: Liborio Mateo, la historia, and Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience. This last film received the distinction of finalist in the
2014 edition of ECOFILM Festival. There was a Q & A session after the screening, moderated by Alexandra Tabar and Ángel Castellanos, Multimedia Manager and Multimedia Assistant respectively, both of GFDD.

Meanwhile, at 3:00 pm at the Pabellón de Cine Juan Fernández, the conference “Mujeres Ejecutivas en un Mundo de Hombres Ejecutivos” took place, with the participation of Ms. Natasha Despotovic, Executive Director of GFDD and Clara Benedicto,
Director of the General Cooperation Directorate and International Relations of the National and Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic. Despotovic explained that today genres equality is an integral and important part of the movement for women’s rights, since the scope depends on the ability of women to exercise their rights, as men and women have different strengths, perspectives and roles that complement each other.

Sunday was a day full
with interesting events as well. In the morning the conference “Biblioteca Juan Bosch: Una ‘Biblioteca VIVA’ donde el libro es su mejor amigo” was celebrated at the Pabellón de Locución Negro Santos, with the moderation of its Director, Aida Montero.

A touching panel took place in the afternoon when poet and writer Marivell Contreras moderated the conference "Sonia Silvestre: 40 años de canto por un mundo mejor".
In an emotional presentation, the singer invited Ms. Susana Silfa, widow of Don Yaqui Núñez del Risco, who sang one of the first songs recorded by Sonia Silvestre. It was written by Dominican Rene del Risco. Ms. Contreras spoke of the love Silvestre had for Argentina, as it was one of the first foreign countries where she sang and Cuba, where she was much loved and respected. Simultaneously, the conference “Origen y evolución de la propiedad intelectual en la República
Dominicana”, took place at the Salón de conferencias Luis Días, moderated by Víctor Eddy Mateo Vázquez.

Later on in the afternoon, a recycled art workshop was given by Bertha Santana, Cordinator of GFDD’s program ReCrearte. The participants had the opportunity to learn how to create beautiful art pieces using recycled jeans and shirts.

Finally, FUNGLODE Editorial Director, Ms. Noris Eusebio, presented the winners of GFDD/FUNGLODE 2014 award in the
categories of Photography, Documentary, Journalism, Short Story, Novel, Poetry and Essay. Throughout the term of the Book Fair attendees had the opportunity to enjoy the photographic exhibition of photos from the book Nuevas Perspectivas: República Dominicana.

The Book Fair is an important and recognized event celebrated in NY, organized by the Cultural Commission of Dominican Republic in the U.S., which is part of the Ministry of Culture of Dominican Republic.

GFDD is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the advancement of global collaboration and exchange relevant to Dominican professionals, general audiences and institutions in the homeland and abroad. The Foundation conducts research, enhances public understanding, designs public policies, devises strategies, and offers capacity building in areas crucial to social, economic, democratic and cultural sustainable development.