08/31/2026
🌟 Keynote Speaker Announcement | 29th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade and Multicultural Festival 🌟
We are proud to announce Alba Enid García Rivas as our 2026 Keynote Speaker for the 29th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade & Multicultural Parade Festival in Palm Bay, Florida Hosted by UTB United Third Bridge, Inc. , in partnership with Gary Yeomans Ford Palm Bay, Neighborhood Association for Inter-Cultural Affairs (NAICA), City of Palm Bay, Eastern Florida State College, Launch Credit Union, and Co-sponsored by SpringHill Suites West Melbourne and Into the Spotlight Talkshow.
Alba is a visionary Boricua filmmaker whose work uplifts Taíno heritage, celebrates Puerto Rican identity, and inspires audiences through imagination, culture, and storytelling. Her presence embodies our 2026 theme: “The Arts: Many Voices. One Canvas. When Culture Comes Alive and Community Thrives.”
Join us as we welcome this extraordinary artist to our historic 29th year of celebration, unity, and cultural pride.
Alba Enid García Rivas is an international, award‑winning Boricua filmmaker with Taíno Indigenous roots. García brings a new, uplifting narrative by creating worlds inspired by her ancestors’ stories and other modern fantasy tales.
She is also developing a new Taíno‑inspired TV series, a fantasy feature film, and a children’s book.
García co‑directed, designed, produced, and performed as a character in her first kids’ TV show, Eco Leaders, shown on BRONXNET TV. Eco Leaders won the National Hometown Media Award for Best Children’s Program and was nominated for an Emmy.
In 2018, the Puerto Rican filmmaker completed Dak’Toká Taíno (I Am Taíno) with executive producer Heather B. Henson of the Green Feather Foundation, daughter of Jim Henson. García used puppets she designed and created for the film about the aftermath of Hurricane María. It qualified and ran for an Oscar in 2019 and was shown at the Smithsonian Museum, the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI), the Newark Museum, and HBO Max. It is now being distributed by The Jim Henson Company under the Handmade Puppet Film collection.
She finished her fourth film, Dangerously Ever After, a stop‑motion film that took seven and a half years to bring to life. The film is based on an award‑winning picture book by Dashka Slater and illustrated by Valeria Docampo. The film was screened at the Museum of the Moving Image.
Alba is a member of The Women in Animation Guild and the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (ASIFA‑East and Hollywood). She also has a YouTube series titled Alba’s Heart to Heart Conversation with Artists, in which she explores and gives strategies to artists from all walks of life.
We look forward to celebrating this 29th milestone year together as we honor heritage, elevate the arts, and continue building a vibrant multicultural legacy for generations to come.
♥️🇵🇷🌺♥️🇵🇷🌺♥️
