Melany Varela | Contributing Writer
A great initiative founded by IWitness, an institute for Visual Journalism at FIU, invites students and faculty to participate in their monthly “Lunch Break” program, sponsored by the FIU Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab.
This inspiring cultural and social celebration at the Biscayne Bay Campus, Academic Center Two Building, happens every third Friday of the month and incites student involvement.
It addresses urgent questions relating to the global borderless Caribbean, through a multidisciplinary approach. Highlighting creativity, community, truth, and democracy in our local governments.
The third edition of “Lunch Break” will be held on Nov. 15. The main topic will be “Thanks. Giving. Hope.”, which recognizes the complex history and cultural layers of Indigenous groups by acknowledging both the positive and difficult aspects of their past and present.
The event is curated by Dr. Rebecca Friedman, Founding Director of the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab at FIU and Research Director of IWitness, alongside Carl Juste, Co-founder of the Iris PhotoCollective.
DJ Mac will commence the event with a thematic playlist. Followed by two performance groups and one discussion board, with each reflecting one of the core concepts.
Firstly, “Thanks” will be shown by the Florida Grand Opera CANTO singers that feature talented students from FIU and the University of Miami.
Secondly, “Giving” will be discussed through the project “Roof for the Future” founded by Cayetano Manolo Nowak, a high schooler who raises funds to install solar panels in the Dominican Republic.
And lastly, “Hope” will be represented by a duet featuring FIU alumni Lucia Nunez and Steven Parnelle.
Caribbean food will be provided for the attendees as a closing to the event.
“We believe in the visual and the power of the visual,” said Dr. Friedman in an interview with PantherNOW, “each time there will be images for our audience to engage with, and for our speakers to engage with, and we complement that with the talent that is all around us here in Miami”
“Lunch Break” is an invitation for the FIU and Miami community to spark interest in our society and engage in the topics that affect us as a whole.
For more updates and information about “Lunch Break” and the IWitness Institute, as well as, interest in participation, you can follow and contact @ipcartspace and @rebeccawphl on Instagram.
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