Ithaca City of Asylum & Pedro X. Molina

Ithaca City of Asylum presents Voices of Freedom on Dec. 4th, featuring Pedro X. Molina.

CAP's "GAP" grant support artistic programs open to the Tompkins County general public. The New York State Council on the Arts provides these funds statewide to makes exemplary arts programming available to geographically, ethnically, and racially diverse segments of the State's population.

Ithaca City of Asylum is a long time GAP grantee. They invite the community to attend Voices of Freedom, their annual event recognizing artists who continue to create despite persecution. This year they are celebrating the publication of a graphic novel by former ICOA artist-in-residence Pedro X. Molina. Hitos de la Democracia (Milestones of Latin American Democracy), is being published in December by the United Nations Development Programme. 

This U.N. program produces an annual report about democracy, usually papers from specialists; but this year, Molina says, they wanted to bring information to the general public, especially young people. His graphic novel is one of three in the current project; the others cover Mexico and El Salvador.

Molina will speak about the development of his graphic novel, including the preparatory work and creative process. He’ll project images from the work and provide translation of the Spanish captions. (Versions in English, French, and Portuguese are forthcoming.)

“From working on this project,” Molina says, “I realized that if you’re waiting for the ideal movement or a magical leader, history teaches you that in fact it’s the work of community – getting together toward a common goal – that’s the most important for change to happen.”

A political cartoonist focusing on Nicaragua and Latin American, Molina publishes regularly for the independent news site Confidencial. His work is also published in CounterPoint and on the cartoon website Tinyview. His cartoons are in syndication with Tribune Content Agency, which distributes them throughout the US.

Thursday, December 4, at 5:45 p.m
BorgWarner Room, Tompkins County Public Library
101 E. Green St., Ithaca

Free and open to the public. Refreshments served