Consul General Neil Ferrer Meets Filipino American Community Leaders, Artists and Entrepreneurs in Colorado and Wyoming
SAN FRANCISCO, 2 June 2023 – Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Neil R. Ferrer met with various leaders, artists and entrepreneurs in the Filipino American communities in Colorado and Wyoming during a consular outreach mission in the states on 20-22 May 2023.
Consul General Ferrer met Dr. Yumi Janairo Roth, renowned artist and scholar from the University of Colorado in Boulder (UCB). Consul Vanessa Bago-Llona, Fil-Am community leader Shiela deForest, and Dr. Matthew Koschmann from the UCB’s Department of Communications, also joined the meeting.
They discussed Dr. Janairo Roth’s current works, including the groundbreaking project “We Are Coming.” The project sheds light on the forgotten but remarkable history of three Filipinos who joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in 1899 as part of the Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Janairo Roth and Prof. Emmanuel David aim to honor these Filipino Rough Riders by inscribing their names on vintage marquees in the towns and cities that the Wild West show once toured. An iteration of “We Are Coming” will also open at the Museum of Contemporary Art-Denver in September 2023.
Janairo Roth also has a show called “AGRIculture,” at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art that pairs artists with regional farmers this June. Dr. Roth aims to increase awareness of the dearth of and the need to produce Asian vegetables in the state, especially in Boulder County. She is working with a farm that is growing kangkong or water spinachfor the project.
During a town hall meeting with the Fil-Am community in Edgewater, Colorado, Consul General Ferrer met Ms. Tammy Botkin, a filmmaker who made a film about Filipino World War II veterans titled, “A Long March,” which is about the struggle for recognition of Filipino soldiers’ contributions to the Pacific War. He also met visual artist and lawyer Elaine Bordeaux, who is scheduled to hold her first solo art exhibit titled, “Courage,” in Barcelona, Spain. The exhibit will feature iconic individuals in her sculptural works in bronze, including national hero Dr. Jose Rizal and Whang Od, among others.
During a town hall meeting in Colorado, Consul General Ferrer also met community leaders and entrepreneurs including Mr. Edmond Viloria, founder of Tindahang Filipino sa Colorado, an online marketplace on Facebook for Filipino entrepreneurs, Ms. Harmony Cabie-Quinto, who heads the newly formed Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Southern Colorado, Mr. Florian De Castro, CEO and owner of PowerTalk 1040 KPPF radio, and real estate owner Aurelia Grinstead, among others. The town hall was organized by Honorary Consul in Colorado Donna Lavigne and Fil-Am community leaders Vivian Norman and Domingo Belen.
In Cheyenne, Wyoming, Consul General Ferrer and the rest of the consular team met the owners of the only Filipino restaurant in Wyoming, Jhun and Merelyn Vinluan. The Vinluans offer Filipino fares, such as lumpia, pancit, sinigang, sisig, turon, halo-halo, among others at Nipa Hut. END
