Por la Avenida/On the Avenue is an intergenerational, neighborhood art series in which new and older generations of immigrants, refugees and longstanding residents of Highlandtown, east Baltimore, use their cultural traditions and experiences to make and perform art. Held at Creative Alliance at The Patterson, this community-based initiative is run by Luisa Bieri de Rios.

Por la Avenida / On the Avenue has included original performances such as Belongings, a sold-out theater production, directed by Luisa and created from neighborhood stories that trace Highlandtown families from Eastern and Southern European old timers to new immigrants from El Salvador and Africa. Songs on the Wind was a historic collaboration of music and art between Native American Huicholes from Mexico and Lumbees and Nause Waiwash from Maryland, and Somalia on these Shores for World Refugee Day featured Somalian hip hop of the Shambara Boyz of Southeast Baltimore and original play Checkered Floors.

Community workshops on the Ukranian egg decorating art of Pysanky and a Brazilian Capoeira Roda filled The Patterson in recent seasons.

Check us out this summer for more original Por la Avenida/On the Avenue programs!