The first beat of the drum broke the silence. For a few minutes, the Dalí Museum — accustomed to welcoming visitors who come in search of melting clocks, surreal landscapes, and creatures born of Salvador Dalí’s imagination — transformed into a different kind of stage.
This time, the story wasn’t just hanging on the walls; it was resounding through the air. The drums of Puerto Rican bomba and plena began to set the rhythm.
Bodies moved to the music. Some people danced, while others watched with curiosity — perhaps hearing for the first time those sounds that had traveled all the way from Puerto Rico to Tampa Bay.
That is how the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration began at the Dalí Museum on Sept. 17, a program running through Oct. 15 that seeks to honor the creativity, cultures, and traditions of the Hispanic world.
The opening night featured members of Proyecto 813-PR, a Tampa Bay-based bomba and plena group.
For Marisol Quiles, a member of the group, bringing this music to a space like the Dalí Museum means far more than just putting on a show. “What better way to showcase the musical culture of Puerto Rico?” she says.
And as the drums reverberated, Quiles observed something that, for her, represents one of the celebration’s greatest treasures: people from diverse cultures connecting with a tradition they might never have encountered before.
“I see with pride that our drums are reaching the audience and getting them to dance,” she says.
Some attendees tried to follow the dance steps, while others simply let themselves go with the flow; the museum had succeeded in turning a night dedicated to Hispanic culture into a gathering of communities.
A legacy that crossed the Atlantic
The celebration holds a special connection to the museum’s central figure, Salvador Dalí. Born in Figueres, Catalonia, the artist maintained a profound lifelong bond with the landscapes and culture of his homeland. Places like Cadaqués, Cap de Creus, and Portlligat appear time and again, inextricably linked to his work and artistic identity.
For the Dalí Museum, therefore, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month is also an opportunity to look back at those Spanish roots and observe how that heritage evolved upon reaching the Americas.
“Salvador Dalí deeply embraced his culture,” said Kim Macuare, the Dalí Museum’s Director of Education.
However, the celebration does not aim to present a single way of understanding what it means to be Hispanic; on the contrary, the programming spans various countries, artistic expressions, and traditions to showcase the diversity within that vast cultural universe.
“Each country has taken that shared heritage and created something of its own,” Macuare explains.
Throughout the month, there are drums from Puerto Rico, wine from Chile and Argentina and cinema from Luis Buñuel of Mexico. There also is a reading from Cuban-American poets Virgil Suárez and Carolina Hospital. And even more music from Latin jazz musician Fernando Cruz.
A museum that also speaks Spanish
The relationship between the Dalí Museum and the Hispanic community did not begin with this celebration. Macuare highlights the presence of bilingual volunteers and educators who, for years, have helped make the museum more accessible to Spanish-speaking visitors.
Among them is Rita Risco, who has served the museum for more than four decades. Guided tours in Spanish are part of this connection, as are the artists, musicians, scholars, and writers who have participated in various programs.
For Macuare, this presence helps the museum reflect the surrounding community — something clearly demonstrated on opening night.
Marisol Quiles’s personal story helps explain why music plays such a vital role in this celebration. Born in Chicago to Puerto Rican parents and grandparents, Quiles grew up hearing about the importance of keeping the connection to her roots alive; for her, the drum became that bridge.
She now teaches bomba to young people from diverse backgrounds — Venezuelans, Colombians, and even children from Thailand. Some of these young people are already singing the songs, mastering the rhythms, and learning to play the drums.
“We are stronger together,” Quiles asserts. Her message to Hispanic youth is straightforward: do not be afraid to explore your roots. “They want to learn; they want to connect,” she maintains.
In a community where many children are born or grow up far from their parents’ country of origin, that connection can begin with something as simple as a song or the sound of a drum.
‘Finally, I found it’
Among those who enjoyed the opening was Natalia Vargas, a Puerto Rican who has lived in St. Petersburg for two years. During that time, she had been looking for places where she could reconnect with Puerto Rican bomba music.
She found it in a place she hadn’t imagined until then: the Dalí Museum. “I loved it; I was fascinated,” she said.
Vargas danced, enjoyed the music, and watched how the audience engaged with the performance. What surprised her most was discovering that a museum world-renowned for Dalí’s work was also willing to open its doors to the traditions of the Hispanic community.
“I really didn’t know the Dalí Museum hosted events of this nature,” she said.
She hopes these initiatives continue and that St. Petersburg gains more spaces where Latino communities can come together. “We need to unite more; we need to have more events,” she asserts.
A month to listen, watch, taste, and discover
After the opening ceremony’s drumbeats, the celebration continues.
On Sept. 24, the museum presented “South of the Equator” (Al sur del Ecuador), a guided tasting of six wines from renowned wine regions in Chile and Argentina.
On Oct. 1, cinema takes center stage with The Exterminating Angel (El ángel exterminador), the 1962 surrealist masterpiece by Buñuel, followed by a discussion about the film.
On Oct. 8, poetry takes the spotlight with Suárez and Hospital as guests for a live poetry evening. And on October 15, Fernando Cruz will close out the program with a Latin Jazz performance.
Throughout the month, visitors can also take guided tours in Spanish, enjoy culinary offerings inspired by the flavors of Spain at Café Gala, and take photos in a themed area created especially for the celebration.
The program transforms the museum into a meeting point where diverse expressions of Hispanic culture engage in a dialogue with Dalí’s history and legacy.