Dominicans graduate as Folklore Specialists in Panama

The Association of Art Journalists of the Dominican Republic celebrates the graduation as Senior Technician in Folklore at the National School of Folklore “Dora Pérez de Zárate”, of four Dominicans, two of them members of this entity. The graduate chroniclers are the prominent folklorists Xiomarita Pérez and Ramón Abad, the latter president of the New York branch, who were present during the investiture ceremony held at the Herbert de Castro Theater of the City of the Arts, in Panama.

You may be interested in: Dominican soprano Janette Márquez to offer concert in Rome

In this graduation, authorities from the Ministry of Education also participated, Dayra Santana, from the Director of Artistic Education, Aristides Burgos Villarreal, and from the acting director of the School, Lesbia Samaniego. The four graduates are cultural managers Mónica Pérez and Karime Pimentel and the acroartist journalists Xiomarita Pérez and Raymond Abad, both former members of the Folkloric Ballet of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and recognized by the Association of Art Journalists (Acroarte) with the Journalism Merit Award in the years 2019 and 2021, respectively.

Raymond, who is currently president of the Acroarte branch in New York, is the producer and host of the programs "El Raymond Show", a radio magazine that highlights the cultural and social aspects of the Dominican diaspora in that city, and "Merengue Forever", which are also broadcast from New York City, where the merengue genre is played and analyzed in all its formats, through the station WHCR 90.3 FM. Xiomarita, who is the first national director of Folklore of the Ministry of Culture, has been working on folklore for 57 years; she writes the column Folcloreando in the Listín Diario, in addition to works related to folklore research, opinion and, above all, highlighting everything related to oral tradition, interviewing the bearers of traditions with the aim of preserving family historical memory. In May 2024, she was recognized by the United States Congress for her contribution to the dissemination of Dominican traditional and popular culture, and was also recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in the Dominican Republic in 2024. She currently works as a dance teacher, researcher, and curator of folkloric and popular content. The president of ACROARTE, Marivell Contreras, expressed her deep joy for the continuous academic updating process carried out by the members of this entity and much more because both professionals - passionate about folklore - can continue working and disseminating our riches and contributing to the cultural strengthening of the country: "To Ramón Abad and Xiomarita, may they know how proud we are of them in ACROARTE and in the country."