Margarita Tavárez was in love with acting; however, after several years of working in the industry, she was disappointed when she realized how much artists had to go through to get to major film projects.
“They told me it wasn’t the right thing to do. Latin enough,” she said. “For others, she wasn’t eccentric enough.”
That situation and the need for economic and mental stability –in addition to her and her husband’s decision to become parents– was what led her to found Casa Feliz, an arts education company that teaches classes in English and Spanish to children of all ages.
Works mainly in schools, nurseries, and day care centers.
The main objective of this institution is to promote and publicize the contributions of Latin American culture to this country.
“We work with children because that is where the path has been most fertile,” said Tavárez, who has a master’s degree in theater, directing and acting from the Sarah Lawrence College of New York and a bachelor’s degree in theater arts education from the University of Puerto Rico, where she is from.
Tavárez formed a team with experienced artists who teach music, theater, dance and any art that is executable. And this is how she was able to unite her two passions: education and the arts.
“Since I was a child I have liked children”, she said. “I have always had an inclination to teach, because for me education is a guide. Since I was young I feel that I had those parallel passions between art and education; I felt that they were nourished by each other.”
What makes her very happy with her project is that Latinos are represented “just as we are diverse, that we do not fit in a box, that we have different races and that we are of different flavors, colors, heights, bodies; that what unites us is the language and perhaps one or another culture or tradition, but not something specific”. in all professional fields, “to end prejudice and break down barriers.”
