INTRODUCING THE CANALES PROJECT
September 21, 2016 – New York, NY – CEO and founder Carla Dirlikov Canales is pleased to announce the launch of The Canales Project (TCP), a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to give voice to issues of identity and culture through the arts and conversation.
At a time when cultural tensions at home and abroad dominate the headlines, Dirlikov Canales seeks to harness the power of the arts and the talents of artists to help build bridges and promote understanding and healing. “Our goal,” she said, “is to help artists help communities in need of their special gifts, energy and commitment.”
As the daughter of a Mexican mother and a Bulgarian father, Dirlikov Canales felt that she was born into a state of cultural confusion. Her life’s journey has brought her to the conclusion that cultural diversity is best understood when we start by celebrating what we have in common, and that nothing can do so with greater power than the arts.
“I could not be more thrilled to be launching The Canales Project. Throughout my life, I have been checking the “other” box, and I came to realize that I am not alone. We must come together and celebrate our similarities rather than our differences, and it is my hope that we can lead the journey from “the other” to “the all,” Dirlikov Canales said.
TCP’s inaugural concert series, “Between Two Worlds,” will delve into these ideas via music and interaction with artists who understand these divisions. These concerts will offer music from many traditions as well as conversations between the artists and the audience in which key themes will be explored.
In future years, The Canales Project will build on this effort with other initiatives that will tap the power of the arts to advocate for social progress and to give voice to those whose stories need to be heard. Dirlikov Canales developed the project as a direct result of her work both as an opera singer and as an advocate. She is a Turnaround Artist for Turnaround Arts, a program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and has served for almost a decade as a State Department Cultural Envoy.
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