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Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc., (PAMAR) is a non-profit organization seeking to promote better understanding between the various cultures and countries of the Americas, primarily through an ongoing and vital exchange of their music, musicians and dancers. Founded in 1984 in New York City by Uruguayan born pianist Polly Ferman, PAMAR has taken significant steps toward establishing itself as an artistic resource center.

PAMAR is a registered non-profit organization in the State of New York and is incorporated as a 501(c) 3 with the Federal government. Throughout its history, PAMAR has served as a comprehensive and inclusive art service organization showcasing the talent of many musicians, composers and dancers of the Americas. Following the boom of the Latin American Art movement, performing art venues across the United States began to present a select few established Latin American performance artists. However vast numbers of talented artist remained underexposed. PAMAR was established two decades ago to present a broader Pan American overview of music and dance. PAMAR has served hundreds of performing artists, through an ongoing presentations program in national and international venues.

 NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION

PAMAR complies with applicable Federal, State, and New York City civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sexual orientation, religious belief, disability, or sex. PAMAR does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, sexual orientation, religious belief, disability, or sex. PAMAR makes as many of its services available as possible in both Spanish and English

Mission

» PAMAR’s mission is to promote & preserve, & create awareness & appreciation of Latin American arts & culture & their roots in Iberia, Africa, & other cultures, in New York City and beyond. We promote & preserve the rich cultural heritage of the Americas.

PAMAR serves performing, visual, & literary artists eager to expand awareness of and appreciation for their work, & audiences eager to appreciate these art forms. We serve audiences often unused to participating in such events, collaborating with libraries, schools, houses of worship, senior & community centers, as well as traditional performing, visual arts, literary, & film venues. 

Our Team

Jan Hanvik is Executive Director of PAMAR – Pan American Art Research Inc., a not-for-profit dedicated since 1984 to promoting inter-American understanding through the arts, and is at the same time Co-Founder and Principal of Crossing Bridges, LLC a new for-profit corporation organized with Dominican colleague and transcultural specialist Fabiola Goris, to design creative tourism packages bringing art-makers and art lovers together throughout South, Central, and North America and the Caribbean, Iberia (Spain and Portugal), and beyond.

Mr. Hanvik holds a BFA in Dance from the City College of the City University of New York, and an MA from New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

He was twice awarded Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowships, in El Salvador, in dance, and in Uruguay and Argentina, in arts management. He has been a panelist and consultant to such organizations as the US Department of State, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Ford Foundation, the Compton Foundation, the JM Kaplan Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and others. His overarching goal is to bring people in the arts and the non-arts worlds together, and to bring people together from all of the Americas, and beyond, through the arts.

 

A cultural entrepreneur, Ferman is the founder and artistic director of  Pan American Musical Art Research, a 501(c) (3) organization she founded in 1984 to promote awareness of and appreciation for the cultures of Latin America.  In this capacity, Ferman conceived 3 festivals, in 2006 the Latin American Cultural Week, (LACW) an annual city-wide festival which highlights the production of dance, ‑ literature, music, theater, visual and performing arts of the Americas in New York City. ­www.lacw.net. ­ In 2012 ­Ferman created Celebracion de la Cultura Hispana in Washington Heights and Inwood, promoting Cultural Development in Upper Manhattan, and in 2014, the First International Tango Festival in NYC, Shall We Tango NYC.

Ferman is a  leading interpreter of the music of the Americas, Uruguayan-born pianist Polly Ferman captivates audiences with outstanding performances of works by Latin American composers. ­Recognized by The Japan Times “a Musical Ambassador of the Americas,” Ferman’s numerous recordings constitute one of the most extensive collections of Latin American repertoire for piano. www.pollyferman.net.  Ferman’s tours as a soloist have included performances with prestigious orchestras around the world, including the San Francisco, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Tokyo, Philippines, Jarkov and Argentine National Symphonies, among others, as well as recitals stages such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tokyo’s Takemitsu Hall, London’s St. Martin in the Fields, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón, Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Oriental Art Centre and Bogota’s Teatro Mayor. Ferman created, directs and performs in GlamourTango, a unique all-female international multimedia music, and dance show. The ultimate homage to Women’s Empowerment. ­ www.glamourtango.com

 

As Principal of Waveform Projects, Matt helps artists, organizations, and projects with business development, project management, fundraising, and promotion, and has participated in the production of and funding for film and television productions, including several documentaries broadcast internationally. His company Signal Brigade produces documentary film projects. 

Matt was previously a Curator, Program Director, Executive Director, and Development Officer for media arts and cultural organizations. He founded and was Executive Director of Perimeter Media + Cultural Projects, a 501(c)3 cultural organization that presented film and video festivals (including the New York Animation Festival), media arts exhibits, educational workshops, and international exchanges. 

Matt is a board member of Northwest Film Form and has an MA in Communications / Media Studies from the New School for Social Research in New York City.

 

We are happy to announce Lena Hansen as a new member of the PAMAR team. Lena has graduated from the Free University of Berlin in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Spanish and English Philology and will be an Intern assisting Executive Director Jan Hanvik with a wide variety of tasks. Lena’s specialty fields are intercultural relations, communication, and research, and she will support us in the planning and implementation of international cultural events and the administrative development of artist residencies in Mexico City and indigenous communities in western Mexico. As a result of a former internship in Somoto, Nicaragua, she gained hands-on experience in cross-cultural community building and mediation in Latin American societies. We believe that New York City as an international arts capital is ideally poised to receive a professional internationalist such as Lena and we look forward to the cooperation! 

 

 

What We Do

Events & Programs

A MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH LATIN AMERICAN

In accordance with the Blueprint For Teaching and Learning in the Arts developed under the direction of the New York City Board of Education, Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc. (PAMAR) creates “A Musical Journey Through Latin America”. This program brings the highest quality teaching-artists in Latin American music and arts to the schools, so that students can experience and build knowledge of music and culture that they carry with them in their futures. 

“A Musical Journey Through Latin America” is a 12-week residency that includes one 2 hour teacher’s development/planning session and a series of nine 45-minute sessions with two groups per school per day, and two culminating two hour sessions in which the students prepare for and perform a “Latin American Festival”. The program introduces Latin American music through its cultural roots, instruments and songs, allowing children to learn and appreciate the great influence it has had on our culture today. 

Single day workshops, Residencies of varying lengths, and outreach performances may be customized to fit your organization’s need.

Our programs encourage kids of Latino heritage to build a deeper knowledge and pride in themselves; at the same time, we encourage and promote children of all ethnic backgrounds to acknowledge, respect and recognize the unique talents and treasures that every culture has to offer. The program is designed making standards connections and within the Department of Education’s Five Strands, allowing the classroom teachers and especially the arts teachers in the school to work simultaneously with the program on topics/themes, or with some specific cross-disciplinary instruction focusing on a common theme/concept. Bilingual program (English/Spanish) is optional. 

 

Residencies

RER – RESIDENCIAS EN RED IBEROAMERICA – IBEROAMERICAN RESIDENCIES NETWORK

The Agencia Española de Colaboración Internacional y Desarrollo – the Spanish Agency for International Collaboration and Development – invested funds from 2008 – 2012 in an informal organization, Residencias en Red IberoAmerica – IberoAmerican Residencies Network – that intended to organize, unite, and strengthen a network of artist residencies throughout those regions.  This was to give them access to shared resources they needed to survive, as exists for North American artist residencies through the Alliance of Artist Communities, and for European (and other) artist residencies through Res Artis.  AECID pulled the plug on this incipient network and its 26 members in 2012. Since then, informal, more localized artist residency networks have sprung up, while ArtMotile, the network of Spanish residencies, closed its doors in 2017.  There are 22 residencies in Argentina alone.  In Brazil, the Fundacao Nacional de Artes – the National Arts Foundation – in 2014 published a directory of 191 residencies throughout the country, and there is another category of 600 entities that “receive artists.”  9 artist residencies are in the process of being established in indigenous communities in the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, Venezuela, and Argentina. 

New residencies are springing up in Nicaragua, Cuba, Uruguay, Bolivia,  Guyana, and Haiti.  Why?  What local, regional, national, and international needs do these artist communities serve?  How do they fit into a new global wave of cultural/creative/sustainable/eco-tourism?  This proposal aims to get artists, arts promoters, government tourism agencies, arts funders, Latin Americanists, and others talking about the “how” and the “why” of this scarcely-examined emerging phenomenon.

 

Fiscal Sponsorship

Coming Soon