Aurelio Martínez 2022 Mellon Fellow

Aurelio Martínez is a renowned singer/songwriter, guitarist and percussionist, and one of the great musical artists of Central America. He is a master composer and global ambassador of Garífuna music and cultural patrimony. Born in La Ceiba, Honduras to a family with a formidable musical legacy, Martínez is known for his potent and evocative voice and original compositions, which are a modern expression of Garífuna tradition. He is an international musical force who has received numerous prizes and performed across the world sharing and teaching Garífuna culture. In addition to his career as a performing and recording artist, Martínez became the first Garífuna and the first Black representative in the Honduran Congress, where he advocated for the rights and cultural sovereignty of his community. During his residency, which will Inaugurate the collaboration between Hemi and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, Aurelio will give master classes, community workshops and participate in other public programs.

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Land Acknowledgement

The Hemispheric Institute at New York University acknowledges with respect the Lenape nation, whose traditional homelands NYU now occupies. We recognize the longstanding significance of these territories for Lenape nations past and present. We acknowledge that we work in a city with the largest urban Native population in the United States. Even as we work to increase the historical awareness of Indigenous exclusion and erasure, we acknowledge the effect of that legacy in educational institutions, at NYU, and across the hemisphere. We are committed to work revealing Indigenous history and life-worlds and to the inclusion of Indigenous voices and participation, in allyship with Indigenous makers and communities across the Americas.

About Us

The Hemispheric Institute gathers artists, scholars, writers, learners, and activists from across the Americas. We focus on social justice and research politically engaged culture and performance. We share this work in digital archives and amplify it through dialogues and public scholarship, residencies, publications, and gatherings. Our dynamic, multilingual network traverses disciplines and borders and is grounded in the fundamental belief that artistic practice and critical reflection can spark lasting cultural change.