La Sirena Mexican Folk Art East Village New York

What to Know

• La Sirena Mexican Folk Art has been bringing Mexican civilization to Manhattan residents for over twenty years.
• The store closed in March 2020 and has experienced a series of financial burdens as a result of the pandemic.
• Dina Leor, the founder of La Sirena Mexican Folk Art, wishes that the regime provided more assistance to small businesses like hers.

Among the lively streets in the Due east Village lies La Sirena Mexican Folk Fine art, a small business offering Manhattan residents a piece of Mexican civilization, one artwork at a fourth dimension.

While the store's exterior appears simple yet the within presents a vibrant and colorful atmosphere where paintings of Frida Kahlo decorate the walls and colorful dolls hang from the ceiling.

La Sirena Mexican Folk Fine art, also referred to every bit La Sirena, has been supplying Manhattan residents with an affluence of folk art crafted by Mexican artisans for over 20 years. Dina Leor founded the store in 1999 to share her passion for art and Mexican culture with others.

Leor's passion for Mexican culture began when she visited Mexico as a child where she instantly fell in dear with the country. While Leor herself is not of Mexican descent, she shares a deep appreciation for the country's people, nutrient, and art.

"I simply feel like I'g at dwelling when I become there," said Leor who describes herself every bit an "Argentine-American with a Mexican Fine art."

Throughout the years, Leor would continue to travel to diverse regions in Mexico, collecting unlike pieces of art with each trip. After a few trips, Leor's collection had grown extensively, so she decided to open La Sirena.

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"When I travel to United mexican states I always buy also much, so when the store happened information technology was already a part of my life," said Leor. "I never decided to have a shop, it was shown to me."

Leor sources many of her pieces from families in various regions in United mexican states who take been creating folk art, a blazon of fine art that reflects cultural identity rather than individual identity and is passed downward from generation to generation.

"These are people who are in the patios of their home creating folk art," said Leor. "You come abode from school and your parents are doing it and then you hang out with them and learn how to do it."

The store sells a variety of hand-woven blankets, painted animals, and masks created by local artisans and their families in Mexico who receive a portion of the sales from La Sirena.

Just like many small businesses, the onset of the pandemic brought a serial of challenges for Leor and her store.

"Pocket-size businesses in New York, we were all impacted by having to be close down," said Leor. "There'due south no tourism, people for a long time, even so, are scared to come out."

Leor airtight La Sirena for a few months in March 2020. She set her sights on crowdfunding with an initial goal of raising $14,000 to pay for her hire, utilities, and to back up the families in Mexico who produce art for the store. Leor also applied for government assistance using the Paycheck Protection Programme but said: "I wish stores could count on the government more for help."

The Seacoast Repertory Theatre struggles financially as they pivot to small in-person and online performances, Luella's Southern Kitchen deals with some changes to the supply chain and 50.A. Dogworks hash out the fiscal implications of the COVID-xix pandemic and how they are trying to discover ways to stay afloat, keep their staff working and evolve.

Similar Leor, many small business owners experienced a series of setbacks as a event of the pandemic. A study conducted in June 2020 found that virtually 43% of small businesses temporarily airtight due to COVID-19. The Mid-Atlantic region, which includes New York, witnessed the sharpest decrease in employment and increase in temporary closures.

Recent data likewise identifies that Latin-owned businesses, like La Sirena, were disproportionately afflicted. In May 2020, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative found that 86% of Latin-Ten business owners experienced immediate negative impacts from COVID-19. They too reported that Latin-Ten owners were less likely to receive PPP funding compared to white-owned businesses.

Leor reopened her store in July but closed over again for 3 weeks in February 2021 when she became infected with the virus.

In demand of additional support, Leor decided to reach out to New York Nico, a video creator who had featured La Sirena on his Instagram. Shortly subsequently, Leor received a telephone call from a adult female who offered her a temporary location at the Chelsea Market.

"At that place are silvery linings that come out of the pandemic," said Leor.

The pop-upward at the Chelsea Market brought an increment in business for the store at starting time, but Leor says that business at the second location declined.

"It was so groovy in the outset I thought, 'oh this is my savior,' but at present it'south gone downwards, too," Leor said. "But it is helping kind of save the business."

While the pop-up closed in September, Leor is standing to spread her beloved for Mexican culture by hosting book signings and other cultural events that showcase Mexican food and music. Despite the challenges she's encountered, Leor stated that she's grateful to take her health and a support network with other pocket-size business owners.

"Fifty-fifty during COVID-19, wonderful things happened," said Leor. "People came together, there was a lot of love and support within the community."

Oneika Raymond meets upwardly with "What Would Frida Do? A Guide to Living Boldy" writer, Arianna Davis to see how Frida'due south life inspires us to be our brightest, boldest selves. Together they visit Vida Verde and La Sirena Mexican Folk Fine art.

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Source: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/la-sirena-mexican-folk-art-illustrates-small-business-resilience-amid-covid-19/3305115/

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