New York City Day of the Dead Festival

Our mission:

• • To celebrate, preserve, promote, present and share  Mexican traditions in the New York City Day of the Dead Festival
  • To preserve the regional diversity of the Day of the Dead, by celebrating the traditions from different states of Mexico at the New York City Day of the Dead Festival
  •  To pass on Day of the Dead traditions to younger generations of Mexican-Americans, many of whom have been separated from their family’s spiritual and geographic origins
  • To share the Day of the Dead heritage and cultural practices with the broader New York community, through the richness and diversity of Mexican folk arts, music, dance and food
  • To support and offer a setting for artistic expression to artists involved in traditional cultural practices related to the Day of the Dead
  • To ensure the continued growth and long-term success of Day of the Dead traditions in New York

The New York City Day of the Dead Festival provides opportunities for both the immigrant Mexican-American and the broader Staten Island community. It helps the Mexican community gain a sense of self-esteem and pride in its traditions and rich culture. It also opens up the Mexican community to our neighbors, allowing them to gain a greater understanding of Mexicans who reside here in New York.

Who We Are:

Irma Bohórquez-Geisler, PhD.

Irma Bohórquez-Geisler is the Founder, Artistic and Program Director of the annual New York City Day of the Dead Festival on Staten Island, established in 1992. Irma directs and organizes New York City Day of the Dead Festival in Staten Island to preserve Mexican traditions, to be connected to our homeland, to support spiritual and artistic practices and visible forms of creation that help Mexican and Mexican-American people in our community know who we are. A native of Mexico City, Irma migrated to New York in 1991. She has presented Mexican traditions at many museums, schools and other institutions. A photographer, Irma has exhibited work at a number of contemporary art galleries and museums. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecological Entomology from Oxford University and she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Autonomous University of Mexico City (UNAM). She has been awarded grants for the Day of the Dead festival as well as for her photography from Staten Island Arts, NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, from the New York Foundation for the Arts and JP Morgan Chase. In 2011, City Councilwoman Debi Rose conferred on Irma the “Staten Island Women Who Preserve History” award for her current long-term photo essay on the Mexican Immigrant Community in New York. Irma is also a jeweler.

Tamara Geisler

Tamara Geisler is an Actor, Producer and Educator. Born in Mexico City, she moved to the United States at the age of three. She received her education from the Professional Performing Arts School in New York, the British American Dramatic Academy in London, and received her Bachelor’s Degree in English and Theater from Barnard College, Columbia University.

When she was six years old, she assisted at workshops on Mexican folklore and cultural traditions, including Día de los Muertos programs. Since 2000 she became the leading teaching artist of traditional Folk-Arts workshops for the annual Día de los Muertos and leads educational classes in many schools.

Her commitment to teaching about Mexican identity includes work at Wellesley College (Keynote Speaker), The American Folk Art Museum, The Newark Museum, the American Crafts Museum, the Staten Island Children’s Museum and awarded a 2012 JP Morgan Chase Artists in Our Communities grant from Staten Island Arts. Tamara has also taught theater in over thirty New York City public schools, private schools and theater companies.

Tamara is a bilingual actress, who has spent much of her time performing and producing Shakespeare, Experimental Theater and Children’s Theater. Select theater credits include: Digna (Planet Connections, nominated Best Solo Show), Village Orpheus (The Wild Project, winner Outstanding Ensemble Performance), As You Like It (Oxford Shakespeare Company), Places (59E59 & Edinburgh Fringe), Enemy (Mexico, directed by two-time Emmy winner, Dorothy Lyman), World Wide Plays (Theater Row, sponsored by David Letterman). Recent work includes receiving a PASS Residency at the Smithsonian Affiliate, Snug Harbor Cultural Center for a new solo play that she wrote and starred in, TINA, on the life and history of renowned photographer and activist, Tina Modotti. You can see her in “Homicide City: Charlotte” on the Investigation Discovery Channel.

Silvia Gutierrez de Silva

Mexican-born, Silvia Gutierrez, a member of the Staten Island community, has assisted at workshops on arts & crafts at the Day of the Dead celebration since 2006.

New York City Day of the Dead Festival

To experience the Day of the Dead first hand, please join us at the annual New York City Day of the Dead Festival.