Chilean Culture in New York City

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Chilean New York City

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Metropolitan New York City has the largest Chilean communities in the United States.

New York City’s main Chilean communities are in Queens, and Nassau County, Long Island.

New Jersey has Chilean communities in Paterson and North Bergen.

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Chilean Art

Alfredo Jaar is a New York Chilean artist, architect and filmmaker. He is famous for installations such as “This is Not America” (1987), a Times Square sign. alfredojaar.net 🇨🇱

Cecilia Vicuña (Santiago, 1948) is a New York Chilean conceptual and textile artist who works in quipu, the ancient Indigenous Andean knotted cord writing system. 🇨🇱

Cristin Tierney art gallery represents Chilean artists Claudia Bitrán and Jorge Tacla. cristintierney.com 🇨🇱

David Hammons’ “Day’s End,” a Whitney Museum installation over an old pier in Hudson River Park, was inspired by Chilean American artist Gordon Matta-Clark’s legendary Pier 52 intervention in 1975. 🇨🇱

Johanna Unzueta (Santiago, 1974) is a New York Chilean artist. 🇨🇱

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Chilean Books

The Jorge Luis Borges Library at Instituto Cervantes New York is one of the best places in New York City to find Chilean books. 🇨🇱

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Chilean Fashion

Zero Maria Cornejo is a Chilean fashion house in NoHo, Manhattan. She is known for minimalist elegance. 🇨🇱

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Chilean Film

Film at Lincoln Center is one of the best places in New York City to see Chilean film. 🇨🇱

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Chilean Food

Dulceria is a Chilean bakery and coffee shop in Harlem, Manhattan. newyorkchileanfood.com 🇨🇱

La Roja de Todos is a Chilean restaurant in North Corona, Queens. larojarestaurant.com 🇨🇱

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Chilean Government

New York’s Chilean Consulate is in Murray Hill, Manhattan. chile.gob.cl 🇨🇱

ProChile, Chile’s trade commission, is in Murray Hill, Manhattan. prochile.gob.cl 🇨🇱

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Chilean Music

Claudia Acuña is a New York Chilean jazz singer. claudiaacuna.net or @claudiaacunamusica 🇨🇱

Manny Mills is a New York Chilean DJ who regularly spins at La Boom night club in Woodside, Queens. 🇨🇱

Melisa Aldana is a New York Chilean jazz tenor sax player. melissaaldana.net or @melissaaldanasax 🇨🇱

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Chilean Theatre

Repertorio Español, New York City’s Spanish-language repertory theater, presents “Eva Luna,” based on the Isabel Allende novel. 🇨🇱

Teatro La Re-Sentida presented avant-garde theatre “La Dictadura de lo Cool“(The Dictator of Cool) at NYU Skirball in Greenwich Village in 2018. 🇨🇱

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Culture of Chile

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Chile is a long country in southwest South America. It has a long coast, a coastal mountain range, long valleys, and the Andes mountains. It has deserts in the north, agriculture in the center, and forests in the south.

The Atacama Desert is the world’s largest dry desert.

Chilean culture is a mix of Indigenous, European and African cultures.

• Chile’s Indigenous are of Inca descent in the north and Mapuche in the south. Easter Island is Chilean, but the people are Rapa Nui Pacific Islanders.
• Chile’s European culture is mostly Spanish with some German influence.
• Most Afro-Chileans live in the north.

Chile has a highly developed copper export economy.

Art of Chile

Claudio Bravo (1936-2011) was a Chilean painter of hyperrealist still lives and portraits. 🇨🇱

Rodrigo Valenzuela is a Los Angeles Chilean artist whose photographic installations use visual illusions to express alienation and displacement. 🇨🇱

Sandra Vásquez is a Chilean artist who works in Berlin. 🇨🇱

Books of Chile

Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. 🇨🇱

Isabel Allende is Chile’s most famous writer. 🇨🇱

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was a Chilean poet and diplomat who won the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature. His “Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada” (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair) launched his career when he was just 19. His poetry made us fall in love with the Spanish language in the 1980s, long before we had any idea that we would come to represent Latin culture in New York City. “Cuerpo de mujer, blancas colinas, muslos blancos…” fundacionneruda.org 🇨🇱

Cities of Chile

Chile’s main cities are the capital Santiago, the port city Valparaiso, and the industrial port city of Concepción.

Valparaiso was an important stop for shipping between the Atlantic and Pacific before the opening of the Panama Canal. It is still an important shipping and cruise ship port, but is also known for tourism and education.

Concepción is known for its universities and as the capital of Chilean rock.

Dances of Chile

Cueca is the national dance of Chile. This stomping dance mimics the courtship of rooster and hen. Scarves are used for flirting. Men dress as fancy Chilean cowboys or simple farmers.

Dictatorship of Chile

The dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1974-1990) was one of the brutal Latin American military dictatorships, unfortunately supported by the United States.

The experience of dictatorship affects Chileans even to this day. Social activism and a wariness of dictatorship are part of the Chilean national identity. If you want to have a revolution, talk with a Chilean first. After that conversation, you won’t support revolution.

Festivals in Chile

Chilean Independence Day is September 18, 1810.

Festival of the Virgin of La Tirana celebrates the Virgen del Carmen, Chile’s patron saint, in La Tirana, Tarapacá, Chile; around July 16.

Food of Chile

Chileans have an late afternoon tea, which can be a fourth meal or dinner.

Film of Chile

Pablo Larraín is known for his portraits of famous people, including: Academy Award nominees “No” (2012) starring Gael García Bernal in the 1988 Chilean referendum on Pinochet , “Neruda” (2016) starring Gael García Bernal as Pablo Neruda, “Jackie” (2016) starring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, and “Spencer” (2021) starring Kristen Steward as Lady Diana. 🇨🇱

Sebastián Lelio is known for directing “Gloria” (2023), and 2017 Academy Award winner “A Fantastic Woman (2017).” 🇨🇱

Music of Chile

Ana Tijoux is a Chilean French hip hop singer. anatijouxoficial.com or @anatijoux 🇨🇱

Holman Trio is an Indigenous Chilean jazz band. 🇨🇱

Mon Laferte is a Chilean Mexican alternative singer. 🇨🇱

Myriam Hernandez is a Chilean pop singer. 🇨🇱

Nano Stern is a Chilean rocker. 🇨🇱

Violeta Parra (1917-1967), composer of “Gracias a la vida” (1966), was a musician, artist, and activist who pioneered Nueva Canción Chilena, contemporary Chilean folk music. Violeta made Chilean folk music cool and popularized it around the world. She was also the first Latin American artist to exhibit at the Louvre Museum in Paris. 🇨🇱

The most famous version of “Gracias a la vida” is by Indigenous Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. A certain generation of South Americans grew up with this song. When today’s most popular female Latin American singers play folk music, they are following in the footsteps of Violeta Parra.

Indigenous Chile

Mapuche is Chile’s main Indigenous community.

Patron Saint 0f Chile

Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Virgen del Carmen) is the patron saint of Chile. Her feast day is July 16.