From Wednesday, 12 October through Saturday, 15 October, performance art will lure visitors to the abandoned industrial site known as La Chocolatera in Puerto Plata and other cultural centers in the north coast. The III International Encounter of Performance Chocopop-Sonoro will bring together more than 20 Dominican artists together with invited artists from Austria, Polland, the United States, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. The event opens on Wednesday at 4 pm at the Chocolatera itself, a site in the process of being turned into an arts center.
This year, the emphasis will be on contemporary music and in addition to events at the Chocolatera site itself, the encounter will feature events at the Casa de Cultura, Casa Costa, Paseo de la Catedral around the Central Park of Puerto Plata. Likewise, at the San Felipe Fort, and the Chinola Garden Cafe (former Acuarela Restaurant), the Centro Cultural Almenara and the new Motif Arte/Casa in Sosua, as well as Bar Miro’s in Cabarete Beach.
On Friday, 14 October, at 6 pm, the encounter moves to the Centro Leon in Santiago, where a conference by Chilean artist Alexandre del Re will discuss history and sound-art, followed by a 7:15 pm performance at the center’s Patio Caribeno by Dominican Caryana Castillo. That evening, at Casa de Cultura in Santiago, there will be participation of Arlyn Jimenez (Buloya) and Pascal Mecariello.
For Saturday, 5 October, Austrian artist Doris Steinbichler is booked for an event to honor pop musician Falco, who lived in Puerto Plata until his death. That evening, Checo Merette of Puerto Plata will go on stage at the Centro Cultural Almenara in Sosua, and the opening of the Motif arte/casa will take place. The closing of the arts performance is slated that evening for Bar Miro’s in Cabarete at 9:30 pm with the participation of Carlos Ortiz, Casiful Rock, Colectivo Sonoro 28 grados.
The III International Performance Encounter Chocopop-Sonoro is organized by the Fundacion Atlantica, the Association of Hotels of Puerto Plata and the Colectivo Chocolatero, with the sponsorship of Brugal & Cia., Sea Horse Ranch and other local companies, and has the support of the Cultural Development Program of the Inter American Development Bank in Washington, D.C.
The Chocolatera project, seeks to turn the site into the Centro Cultural del Atlantico (CECA), a space for education, art, and technology, and axis of cultural tourism in the north coast.
The event will serve as a warm up for the Puerto Plata Jazz Festival that is scheduled for 20-23 October.