CEO's Statement:  Karina Rieke is CULTURARTE Karina Rieke was born in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic, in 1971, to a Dominican mother and a German father. She lived in her native country until the age of 11 and was later transferred to NYC, where she has lived since then. Karina is the mother of two beautiful children , Kamila Jorge, age five, and Jorge Kamilo, age three. She is also happily married to Dr. Jorge Pina. From an early age Karina has been involved in the arts. She studied theater and acting with well renown individuals such as Osvaldo Dragun and participated in different theater groups. She studied painting intensely as well as drawing in the "Art Student League School" in New York. She graduated from City College with a degree in painting and drawing and a concentration in photography, ceramics, and the use of the wheel. For many years she dedicated herself to working as an art and handicrafts teacher in public schools in the school districts 3, 4, 5 and 6 in Manhattan. In the year 2000 she served as director of visual arts and theater for the Dominican government in "la Casa de la Cultura", which is now called "Comisionador Dominicano de Cultura en Los Estados Unidos." In the year 2001 she created "Fundacion Dominicana Culturarte de New York", of which she is the Executive Director/CEO. It was in this school that she established "The school of the arts in Washington Heights" which offers weekly classes in art, music, theater, dance, photography, film, journalism, ballet, and poetry to more than a hundred students from the area, thanks to a three year proposal that was granted in 2005 with the department of youth of the city of New York, DYCD. Under Karina's direction, Culturarte was able to construct the first Dominican theater in Washington Heights: "Anacaona Dominican Theater" which was established with the exclusive support of New York City's department of culture and New York State's Council of the arts. As the director of Culturarte, Karina Rieke has organized widespread cultural events, amongst which the most important are the "Cultural retreat" outside of New York and "La Feria del Libro" which is going on its fifth year. She also hosts "Simposio de Cultura y Literatura Dominicana" and "Noche de Periodistas y Escritores" on a monthly basis. In 2002, she published her first book of poetry, "Semejanza de lo Eterno" which enabled her to win a prestigious prize in Madrid for the poem "Ser de Migajas". Her second book of poetry is titled, "Mitologia del Instante". Karina Rieke has been in the following anthologies: "Metapoesia de Mi" 2003, "Voces de Ultramar" 2005 and "Directorio de Escritores Dominicanos en los Estados Unidos" in 2005. As a writer, Karina Rieke has been chosen to participate, along with 9 other prestigious poets in the CD "From Poetry to Song" which will be circulating in March 2008. Karina Rieke is also the creator of the women's literary workshop, "Camila Enriquez Urena" which intends to publish new authors as its main objective. Karina is also a Latin-American and Latin-Caribbean literature teacher and the prominent art teacher of a program she designed herself for adults. Karina Rieke graduated as a journalist with honors from the Dominican Institute of Journalism in New York, with a concentration in television and the written press. Karina is the producer and host of "Karina Rieke in New York" a TV show that promotes cultural tourism through interviews and reports. The show's main goal is to promote our best on Super Canal Caribe. She was the co-founder and editor of the cultural column "Art and culture" in, "Periodico La Republica." In 2007, she was invited to work as a newscaster, where she played the lead female role in the show "Contacto" which is broadcast all over the United States. Karina Rieke is without a doubt a creator; she takes on the present challenge of promoting culture, art, journalism and poetry. She is equally a socially conscious individual, which makes her a great female role model in our community.