The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation® announces winners of its Research and Preservation Grant Program

Two Distinguished Research Projects and Two Preservation Projects that Further the Cultural Understanding of Latin Music and its Rich Histories will Receive Grants Totaling $20,000 USD

Miami (Jan. 24, 2019)—The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation® announced today the winners of its Research and Preservation Grant Program. This program provides grants to music institutions, nonprofit organizations, musicologists, and researchers around the world who are enhancing and preserving Latin music heritage. This year, an eclectic group of institutions and scholars will receive this support. The four grants, with a maximum value of $5,000 USD each, support diverse initiatives: The Preservation Grants fund the archiving and preservation of Latin music and its unique customs, while the Research Grants support projects that emphasize historical and anthropological research, in addition to documenting traditions and Latin folklore.

"We are proud to help a new group of scholars undertake important and noble projects to preserve and study the rich and storied Latin musical traditions," said Manolo Díaz, Sr. Vice-President, Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation. "These projects will not only help us better understand our traditional music genres but will contribute to the advancement of the world’s culture."

Awarded Preservation Grants:

• Víctor Márquez, from Venezuela. His project, Restauración de grabaciones de joropo tuyero 1917–1999, will digitize original versions of joropo tuyero from old vinyl records, cassettes, radio recordings from small local radio stations, and audio recordings from rural gatherings of joropo, including repertoire that has never been recorded in digital format. A bilingual digital library will be created and will be available via the web at no cost to students and the public.

• Renata Amaral, of Maracá Produções Artísticas e Culturais Ltda in Brazil. For her project, Maracá Collection, Amaral will digitize and preserve thousands of recordings from 1991 in 300 MDs, 400 MiniDVs, DVCam, DAT, VHS, multitrack audio, HDcam, FullHD, and digital photos of 100 communities, 56 municipalities, and 15 states of Brazil. They include diverse Brazilian genres such as Bumba Boi, Tambor de Mina, Terecô, Caixa do Divino, Coco, Ciranda, Candomblé, and Tambor de Crioula, among others. These recordings will be available on the organization’s web page free of cost to the general public.  

Awarded Research Grants:

• Judy Cantor-Navas, an American writer and music curator living in Spain. For her project, Panart Records: Sello discográfico que capturó la música cubana y la trajo al mundo, Cantor-Navas will reconstruct and document, in precise detail, the history of Panart Records. She will document the complete discography, artist list, and the stories behind the music recorded during the golden age of Cuban music during the 1940s to the 1950s; demonstrating the importance of Panart Records' place within Cuba’s cultural patrimony and the history of Latin music.

• Juan Díaz, of Corporación Universitaria Reformada in Colombia. His project, Instrumentos musicales del caribe colombiano en vías de extinción, will identify, study, and disseminate three endangered instruments that belong to the indigenous communities of the Colombian Caribbean region: guandú, marimba de pierna and arco de boca. To disseminate this information, Díaz will build a website, video channel and social media channels to promote all the obtained information at no cost to national and international audiences.

The recipients were selected among numerous qualified candidates by a committee of experts from Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula, and the United States.

Since its inception in 2015 to date, the program has awarded more than $96,000 USD in grants to support projects, one of which received a Latin GRAMMY® and GRAMMY® Award.

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ABOUT THE LATIN GRAMMY CULTURAL FOUNDATION:

The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation was established by The Latin Recording Academy® to promote international awareness and appreciation of the significant contributions of Latin music and its makers to the world's culture, and to protect its rich musical legacy and heritage. The Foundation's primary charitable focus is to provide scholarships to students interested in Latin music with financial needs, as well as grants to scholars and organizations worldwide for research and preservation of diverse Latin music genres. For additional information, please visit us at Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation, or join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Media Contact
Soledad Estrella
The Latin Recording Academy
(305) 576-0036
soledad.estrella@grammy.com