Lorine Padilla, South Bronx Legend & Community Activist

Name: Lorine Padilla, South Bronx Legend & Community Activist
Start: 2025-02-24T16:30:00+00:00
End: 2025-02-24T17:30:00+00:00

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Date & Time: February 24 •4:30pm – 5:30pm

Location: Virtual

Arts and Culture • Clubs, Organizations and Activities • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

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Season 9 of Artivism kicks off with a presentation by Lorine Padilla. Ms. Padilla discusses her life - transformed from gang member to social worker and community activist. Presentation will begin with a keynote address by Rebecca Ringle Kamarei.

Overview

Lorine Padilla will talk about her experience growing up in the South Bronx, a community marked by struggle. She will explain how she and her community had enough of the challenges they faced and decided to take action through activism. Their efforts focused on rebuilding the empty lots, improving schools, advocating for cleaner streets, enhancing healthcare, and supporting individuals affected by AIDS.

Speaker

Lorine Padilla

Lorine Padilla is a 69 yr. old Puerto Rican woman raised in the South Bronx. She is a mother of 7 children, 13 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. Lorine grew up in gangs since she was about 11 years old and married the founder of the largest street gang in NYC during the 70s. A dropout in 7th grade, she later went on to earn a G.E.D. and an Associate and Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. While studying, she realized she needed to join boards:” School Boards,” Community Boards,” Clinic Boards,” and others so she could be the voice of her community. “I’m a survivor of child molestation, rape, and severe domestic violence.” As an activist, she used her voice and survival skills to force changes in her communities. Lorine’s latest fight is on gun laws because one of her grandsons was a victim of a stray bullet while walking past a park. Due to health reasons, she can no longer be out in the trenches fighting, but she still fights via her telephone or with people who go to her home seeking help or information on various issues. “Today, I belong to a program called Credible Messengers, where I train or speak about peace on the streets and how to try to achieve it.”

Resources:

Keynote Speaker

Rebecca Ringle Kamarei

American mezzo-soprano Rebecca Ringle Kamarei, known for her “outstanding” (The Washington Post) voice of “otherworldly luminousness” (The New York Times) has earned acclaim for international opera and concert performances of stunning lyricism, musicality, and conviction. The 2024-2025 season sees her perform four separate programs on Bard Music Festival’s survey of Berlioz’s music as well as curate and perform Aspect Chamber Music Series’ Tale of Three Cities recital, exploring art song in Vienna, Paris, and New York. Ringle Kamarei has working relationships with classical music presenters around the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Macau International Music Festival, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Marlboro, Ravinia, and Bard Music Festivals. The Rose and the Knife with Loft Opera was one of The New York Times’ top classical performances of the year. TEDxYale presented her talk “Live Performance as a Birthright”. In 2016, she studied and performed as Artist in Residence with Marble House Project, leading to her inclusion in artist Kira Nam Greene’s visionary portrait series Women in Possession of Good Fortune. In a fruitful, long running collaboration, Ringle Kamarei has curated repertoire and sung in works by artist and designer Tara Subkoff as part of New York Fashion Week, and the Art Basel and PERFORMA art festivals in Miami and New York.