BRIO Alumni spotlight

Nilda garces

BRIO Winner Serving Bronx Youth For 35 Years

Nilda Garces is proud to call the Bronx her home -- regardless of the rough-and-tumble reputation.

"People say to me in surprise, 'You live in Da Bronx?'" she says. "I always tell them, 'Oh, yes. And by CHOICE!'"

In terms of Nilda's work and inspiration, though, the scope is far broader. Just look into her basement at home, and you will see what might be described as a United Nations of puppets. On every wall there hangs a cluster of "Little People," dressed in a variety of traditional garbs from across the globe. Nilda talks about her Little People with joy and affection -- to her, they are more like old friends than old puppets.

"This is a bandoneon player for tango. Then Antonio over here is the Flamenco dancer. That's why his arms are up like this. And he's accompanied by Lola, naturally!"

"This is Peter! From the Peter and the Wolf story. He's wearing the fur hat they wear in Russia, and he's playing a miniature balalaika that fits him just right."

"And that's Frédéric. Frédéric Chopin! He was a very frail and delicate person. But look at the attire he wore. So dandy and elegant! He was from Poland and died in France."

This is a lifetime of world travels reflected in Nilda's craft, but it's only a part of what makes this BRIO winner so interesting. For instance, she makes and dresses the puppets herself. She is a self-taught puppet maker, thanks to the improvisational skills she learned from growing up in the more austere World War II era. And most important in her mind, she has shared her Little People with thousands of Bronx children.

In a career spanning nearly four decades, Nilda, now 74 years old, has used her puppet shows and classes in a number of powerful ways -- from educational to recreational to therapeutic. Operating as the non-profit Garces Puppeteria, she has brought folktales from all over the world to local kids in a variety of settings, ranging from birthday parties to deathbeds. Her experiences have run the gamut. But it all began in a very simple way, and with a much simpler, more primitive BCA at the heart of the story.

Nilda can recall the first time she knocked on the door of BCA's old Williamsbridge Road office. "It was the late 1970's and it was just a little, little office," she says. "There were only a few men in there, and maybe a secretary. A very young Bill Aguado decided to pay me for shows that I hosted in places like the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden. He paid me very nicely from the start!"

Nilda would also put on workshops and annual shows for her three sons' classmates and friends. These were held right in the basement of her apartment building, where she and her husband were superintendents. This basement turned out to play a key role in her development as a puppeteer. The space and the tools in it, she says, were perfect for making puppets and crafting stage sceneries.

"From the many water and heat pipes crisscrossing those big rooms, I hung the puppets and body parts drying," she remembers. "It looked like a factory -- or as some would say, a morgue of sorts!"

Her sons soon began to serve as puppeteers alongside her; they called themselves the Garces Marionettes Troupe. Once her boys grew up, she expanded into libraries and schools. Throughout the years, BCA has remained dedicated to supporting Nilda through partnership and various grants. This serves as a testament to the importance of her work.

And her work is important in many ways. For one thing, her shows and classes aim to preserve the innocence and creativity that she fears kids are losing in the digital age.

"I just want to help them hold onto their childhood!" she explains. "Not to grow so fast. To enjoy fairy tales, learn to work a puppet or even make a broom come to life. To write something from scratch. To get off the couch and put their gadgets away for awhile and be creative. Kids are more passive viewers and more aggressive in their behaviors than they were 20 years ago. It must be because so much technology is overwhelming them."

This isn't all that Nilda brings to children. Due to her extensive travels, she has a firsthand knowledge of faraway peoples and places. This allows her to infuse a wide array of foreign influence into her puppets, bringing them to life in a way that's both fun and interactive.

"Russian folktales are one kind of story I like to tell kids," she says. "It helps that I took 11 guided tours in a 13-day trip to the country! St. Petersburg is unbelievably cultural, artsy and gorgeous. I've been to Prague in the Czech Republic three times. That's my favorite city because of the Black Theater and fairy tale architecture. I've visited many other places throughout Central Europe and South America. But I won't stay at a Marriott hotel or anything. I want to see the real natives, hear the real music, and learn some of their language!"

Nilda considers her knowledge a major educational tool that is fundamental to her work.

"I don't think many young children have that much of an exchange or exposure to other cultures,” she says. “So I want them to learn about those cultures and see how similar we are in some ways and different in others. If I'm working in a school, the teacher might say, 'This story is set in Hungary. Where is Hungary?' Then they'll have to look up the flag, and who lives there. It's a source for the teacher."

Nilda can recall certain moments when she's made a profound impact on children. "It always happens when a certain child, perhaps extremely shy or extremely aggressive, becomes so involved with his or her puppet or mask that they use it to express their true feelings or needs," she marvels. "It´s like witnessing a 'rebirth' scene of that child."

But other moments have come in much graver circumstances. In 1999, she started a 300-hour internship with Montefiore Children's Hospital, as part of a creative arts therapy program. She volunteered for five more years than she had to, simply because she was "hooked on helping those sick kids." She would do arts and crafts sessions, teach mask and puppet making, and use her puppets to describe medical procedures to the kids. But the cold, hard reality remained.

"Sessions would sometimes be interrupted to check the kids' IV poles, give them oxygen, or prepare them for a procedure," she reveals. "Of course, some of the kids didn't make it. One of these was an African boy who had no family in this country. He's one I can remember most clearly in my heart. He didn't speak English so we did our own sign language!"

Nilda, being a person who always exudes energy and radiance, found a way to bring cheer and humor even to this atmosphere.

“I had to think of ways to cheer the kids, or distract them," she says. "So I would go dressed as a monkey -- or as 'Dr. Goofy,' as the nurses and doctors called me. Yet I never thought of myself as a silly lady or a buffoon. It became a serious reason to go there and put on my Happy Face."

These days, Nilda does less performing and is focused more on teaching kids how to be puppeteers. She wants to continue the kind of work she has done at local schools like P.S. 304 and M.S. 101 -- even if she is one of the only people doing it.

"Puppetry is coming back to places like lower Manhattan and Brooklyn," she says, "but in the Bronx it's still a lost art. So I've made it my continuous battle to make our kids and families realize that it's an entertaining and learning experience for all ages. And you don't need much money, either. Just see what you can find around the house! Maybe Mommy has an old sleeve to dress a puppet, or cardboard hangers from the laundry."

In these ongoing endeavors, there are a few central objects of her gratitude.

"When I received my BRIO for a Russian Fairy tale, it made me feel very proud to be from the Bronx," she says. "BCA, DA Bronx and BRIO are all part of my growing up from performing mom to teaching artist. I could not have pursued this passion of mine without BCA being there for me for all these years."

And she plans to keep on pursuing it. "I still have a lot to do," she insists, "even if I have to
do it more slowly as time passes."

Whatever more Nilda strives to achieve, BCA will be there to help her do it. Because when
Nilda benefits, the children benefit -- and so, too, does the future of our borough.