Puerto Rico
By: Chris Schwartz
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States.
It rests in the northeastern part of the Caribbean Sea between the Dominical Republic and
the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is a very small country, 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. It
consists of the main island and several smaller islands: Vieques, Culebra, Mona, and many
others. Because they are a U.S. territory, their president is Barack Obama, but they have
their own governor named Luis Fortuno. They have interesting voting laws, however. Puerto
Ricans are technically U.S. citizens, but they cannot vote for president while they reside in
Puerto Rico. If they were to move to one of the 50 United States, then they would be allowed
to vote.
Culture
Puerto Rico was originally populated by aboriginal peoples known as Tainos, but
today is more of a melting pot of cultures. There are many cultural influences in Puerto Rico.
Christopher Columbus was the first to lay claim to Puerto Rico, bringing along his Spanish
influence. Like many islands in the Caribbean, African slaves were shipped in and out over
several hundred years. After centuries of being a Spanish Colony, the United States invaded
during the Spanish-American war, beginning a long-standing partnership between the two
nations. Today Puerto Rico has a blend of aboriginal, Spanish, African, and American
cultures. This slurry of cultures is present in their history, culture, and their arts.
The arts are an important part of the Puerto Rican education system. The government
has created an institution that which sponsors and funds artistic activities and programs
called the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena. The institution has its fair share of critics who
claim that the institution favors a certain “high” culture that is centered on the American
cultural influence and does not take into account the native, Spanish, or African cultures that
are present in the Puerto Rican society. Over the last half century there has been a
movement in schools from teaching non-technological arts to more technology advanced
arts. The way the arts are taught in Puerto Rican schools today is much like the way they are
taught in the United States. They start in early grade school with the basic visual arts such as
painting, drawing, and sculpting. Later on in a student’s education, they learn more modern
visual art practices such as photography and graphic design. This is what critics are upset
about. They fear that American culture is taking the place of the native, Spanish, and African
influences in visual art classes.
Accomplished Artist
One accomplished Puerto Rican artist is Oscar Colon (1889-1968). Born in Hatillo,
Puerto Rico, Colon showed a special talent for painting at a very young ate. He taught
himself how to paint by reading art books and making his own observations of other’s arts.
He sought to define what it meant to be Puerto Rican and focused mainly on paintings of
Puerto Rican landscapes and people. He attempted to incorporate customs, daily life,
landscapes, characteristics that defined Puerto Rican culture. Today many of his works are in
private collections such as the Ponce Museum of art. Below the pictures is a youtube video
about one family’s trip to the Ponce Museum of art. One of his famous works is Jibaro Negro
shown below. It is a painting of a Puerto Rican farmer. He incorporates the physical
characteristics of a Puerto Rican of African descent in an agricultural landscape. Another one
of his works is Bodegon, which is a painting fruit next to fine china. I noticed he incorporates
fruit into many of his paintings in an attempt to show that eating what you grew was a big
part of Puerto Rican culture at that time.
Jibaro Negro
Bodegon
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frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Successful Arts Organization
The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) is an example of an arts
program that has benefited both students and non-students in arts and art education. IPRAC
was founded in 2001 by members of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community and other local
supporters of Puerto Rican arts and cultures. Its mission is the “promotion, integration and
advancement of Puerto Rican arts and culture by presenting exhibitions and programming
created to enhance the visibility and importance of the rich Puerto Rican arts tradition”.
IPRAC offers several programs in schools such as a lecture series and an arts
workshop. The lecture series consists of people from IPRAC going into schools and lecturing
students on a wide range of interests in Puerto Rican arts and cultures. In a society that is
continuously moving toward an American way of life, the lecture series teaches students
where their Puerto Rican heritage comes from. The IPRAC arts workshops work in a similar
manner. Guest teachers from IPRAC are invited into Puerto Rican schools to give an arts
lesson based on native, Spanish, and African cultural influence. IPRAC also offers programs
outside schools for students and the general public. It hosts a film festival, art exhibitions,
and other art festivals all centered around teaching people about the Puerto Rican national
identity.
School Programs
Arts education in Puerto Rico has a significant equivalence to that of arts education in
the United States. This is due to the fact that the Puerto Rican government takes after the
United States government. The Puerto Rican Department of Education has established two
required arts credits for elementary school between 4th and 6th grade, and two arts credits in
secondary school, middle and high school. This is somewhat similar to what I experienced.
In 6th grade I took two arts courses, choir and art, and in middle school I took a second year
of both choir and art. Like the United States, Puerto Rico is attempting to give students a
practical education that they can use to either go to college or get a job, so there is not a
huge focus on arts education. This has its benefits and downfalls. It is good because
graduates of the Puerto Rican education system have the basic technical skills to contribute
to society, but it is bad because, like in the United States, there is a shrinking focus on arts
education and teaching the creative process.
Conclusion
I found there to be some similarities and differences in arts education in Puerto Rico
and the arts education I experienced in the United States. One thing that I found was similar
was the total amount of art classes required to be taken. In Puerto Rico, two art classes are to
be taken between 4th and 6th grade, and two more are to be taken in 7th to 12th grade. That is
exactly how my arts education was structured. Another similarity I found between my arts
education and arts education in Puerto Rico is the shrinking priority of the arts in schools.
The modern world is forcing students to become more technical, so less importance is
placed on the arts in the education system. One difference I found between my arts
education and Puerto Rican arts education is that mine never tied any sort of culture into the
work. My classes simply were made up of learning the basics of how to draw, paint, and
sing. In Puerto Rico there is native, Spanish, and African culture influence in arts classes,
however in recent decades Puerto Rico has seen a shift to having more of a modern
American culture influence in arts classes.