Lucio Fernandez

Lucio P. Fernandez is a Cuban-American politician and entertainer, who serves as the Commissioner of Public Affairs in Union City, New Jersey, where he serves under Mayor Brian P. Stack. He is also an artist, author, singer, actor, dancer, playwright, screenwriter, producer and film director who has been credited with being instrumental in reviving the arts in Union City.

Early life Lucio Fernandez was born in Havana, Cuba, to Lucio Pablo Gallardo and Herminia Fernandez, a seamstress. He has a brother Frank and two sisters, Anna and Pabla. Lucio and his family lived in poverty, a situation made worse by the fact that Lucio Pablo was a political prisoner.

When Herminia was forced to leave the country for political reasons, the family lived in Spain for one year before emigrating to the United States He later graduated from the Bobby Lewis Theatre Workshop in Manhattan. he toured nationally and internationally with productions of shows such as West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Chorus Line In the course of his touring he traveled as far as Ecuador and Mexico City.

In September 2000 Fernandez and his wife, Megan, founded the non-profit Grace Theatre Workshop, which provides free lessons in various fields of the arts to children. It was named after its first home, Union City's Grace Episcopal Church's auditorium, where it began with seven students, but as of 2007 it is run out of Jose Marti Freshman Academy, where it serves approximately 120 children. In 2004 they founded their own film production company, MeLu Films. which Fernandez, who enjoys producing free form poetry, and won him the 2009 ITRA Award for Best Performance Theatrical (Male).

In 2009, Fernandez and MeLu Films began production on Vampire in Union City, a surrealist, 48-minute-long independent art film, and the first theatrically released film set in and shot almost entirely in Union City. Written by Karabin, and produced, directed by and starring Fernandez, the film follows the quest of a demented man obsessed with death and the living dead as he roams Union City, and is based on the theme that big cities are more conducive to loneliness than small towns. It stars local artists, and uses Union City landmarks almost exclusively as shooting locations, such as St. John's Episcopal Church, and Hackensack Reservoir No. 2. (Only one location outside of the city, a property in North Bergen, was used for a cemetery scene in order to avoid disturbing a real cemetery.) Fernandez and Karabin hoped the film might inspire other filmmakers to consider Union City as a shooting location. The world premiere was held on September 3, 2010, at the Summit Quadplex on Summit Avenue, the first world premiere of a film in Union City. The film was later screened for general audiences at the Union City Performing Arts Center as part of Union City's Celebrate Art Month, an event Fernandez helped bring about. It was later screened at Mexico's Alberto Andrade Gallery Expo and Sweden's Hellsen Gallery,

Fernandez produces his own TV show on Cablevision and Comcast, Live on Stage, which promotes local artists in the North Hudson County area, and also produces an entertainment newspaper called Sunlight News. as well as its manager. The video, directed by Brandon Medina, features his wife Megan as one of the dancers.

On May 19, 2018, Fernandez was one of three media figures inducted into Union City's Celia Cruz Park Walk of Fame, along with actor Eduardo Antonio, and Latin Grammy winner Amaury Gutierrez.

Politics In the 1990s, while Fernandez was offering free performance classes for neighborhood children, he became friends with local civic leader Brian P. Stack. Though politics was not a lifelong vocation for Fernandez, and he had not previously supported any particular politician, he came to admire Stack's commitment to the betterment of the city and his interest in Fernandez's initiatives, as Stack was the only one who Fernandez says would return his phone calls.

Fernandez (at podium) at the dedication ceremony of a historical marker for William Ranney at the location in Union City where Ranney's home once stood, one of many such markers that Fernandez has been instrumental in creating. Over Fernandez's right shoulder is his frequent collaborator, City Historian Gerard Karabin. In the early 2000s, Fernandez was appointed a trustee of the board of education of the Union City School District and he was a past president of the Union City Day Care Center Board of Trustees. He also served on the Union City Redevelopment Board, and the Union City Public Library Friends. That same year Fernandez was involved in the creation of the Union City Plaza of the Arts on Bergenline Avenue between 30th and 31st Streets, which opened in December 2010 as a venue for artists to congregate and showcase their work. The location, which sees copious traffic to and from Midtown Manhattan, was chosen in order to showcase the city in a positive light to commuters, and so that the plaza could represent fine arts alongside the adjacent Pietro Di Donato Plaza and Celia Cruz Plaza, which represent literature and music, respectively.

Fernandez oversaw the construction and curating of the William V. Musto Cultural Center, which opened in 2011, and with Karabin, spearheaded a program that has dedicated several historic markers around the city, which Fernandez hopes could eventually be used as a tour guide.

On April 20, 2018, Union City's Performing Arts Center hosted the official premiere of Union City, U.S.A., a documentary on the city's history and culture. It was written, directed, and produced by Fernandez, who began research for the film in 2008. Fernandez and city historian Gerard Karabin conducted interviews with numerous past and current residents of the city for the film.

Personal life

Fernandez's mother Herminia died in 1995, and as of 2009, his father and siblings reside in Florida. Megan is an actress/singer/dancer/choreographer The two have also performed dance routines in public.

In addition to his aforementioned artistic activities, Fernandez also enjoys painting and photography, 2013 Premio ARTE Award for Outstanding Actor (for Busco Amigo) 2013 ATI Award for Best Actor (for Cuba: Punto X) 2014 ATI Award for Best Actor (for Till Death) 2014 ACE Award for Outstanding Career in Theatre 2018 Induction into Union City's Celia Cruz Park Walk of Fame

Nominations 2008 MAC Award nomination (for The Cuban Kid)

Discography Volver A Ti (2003) Lucio Fernandez: Poetry (2006) Enamorado (2010) American Mambo (2013)