Hispanic Heritage Carnival

The GCLER (Grupo Cultural Latinos en Rochester) is a local organization devoted to bringing Hispanic heritage and cultural traditions to Western New York. They have been in operation since the early 2000s but started in 2013 performing out of small event spaces funded by Project HOPE. When they aren’t performing, they run classes in local schools on Hispanic headwear and garment making, cooking, history, among other subjects, rotating these topics from season to season. Education at the GCLER is multifaceted, and creating a space for the acceptance of Hispanic culture for children around Western New York is their strategy for dispelling the stigma of urban and suburban Hispanic communities.

A child performer with the Grupo Cultural Latinos en Rochester has her eye makeup done after getting into costume and having fake jewels applied to her forehead, at the Kodak Center in Rochester, New York on October 2, 2021.

A headdress artist sews fake fur to a collar before the show

Children, anxious to start the show soon, point down towards the stage doors from the changing rooms. They have been preparing their costumes, applying makeup and going over their musical dance performance with their choreographer for two hours and h

One of the parents of a child performer with the Cuban dance group applies makeup to her daughter, while members of the Panama dance have their pictures taken by a freind in front of the Kodak Center wall.

Children in the Cuban dance ensemble cheer on Elanor, who dances in an elaborate, moving set of feathered wings.

Lorena Hartstein, a girl performing in the Group Cultural Latinos En Rochester Hispanic Heritage Carnival Show widens the backstage curtain passageway for her fellow performers to get through, behind the MainStage of the Kodak Center, on October 2nd,

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