On Monday, January 25th, a new English bookstore called The Meeting Place will open its doors in downtown Puerto Plata. The bookstore will offer a wide variety of popular paperback novels, as well as books introducing readers to Dominican history, culture, and politics, as well as affordable children’s books and other material for use by teachers of English as a second language – with profits going to buying badly-needed Spanish books for the local library and other programs encouraging reading.

Along with exchanging books and magazines in their own language, visitors to the Meeting Place will be able to attend theatrical performances, and workshops, and view artistic exhibitions. They will also find information about cultural events, festivals, exhibitions, buildings and monuments of note, museums, etc. – all in a setting where there is no pressure to buy souvenirs or tours.

See the week-long schedule of cultural events at bottom of page

The main objective of the project is to break down the separation between town and visitors. While Puerto Plata has over the last 25 years been growing, a key impediment to the development of the city is the fact that non-Dominican visitors stay by the beach and are not encouraged to – indeed frequently discouraged from – visiting the city. The few that visit find little to bring them here, which means little money is brought and investment in renovation and services for visitors does not take place. Even the hotel industry has now come to understand that this vicious circle must be broken, that the city’s history and culture must be promoted to bring back the tourists.

The Meeting Place is a project initiated by the Canadian couple Frances Boylston and Henry Milner, who have been vacationing in the Dominican Republic since the early 1980s and now spend most of their winters in Puerto Plata. Early in 2009 they purchased the building at calle Prof. Juan Bosch 60 and have just completed its renovations in the Victorian style of old center of town. January 5th marked the official opening of the Teatro-Escuela Ivan Garcia with a performance by the Grupo Balsamo – both located at The Meeting Place – under the direction of Arisleyda Beard.

The combination of uses of the building make it an ideal spot for the local community and those from abroad to meet and learn from each other, to break down the barriers between the town and the surrounding resort areas, to encourage visitors to learn little about the rich local history and culture.

The meeting place is located at Calle Professor Juan Bosch (formerly John F. Kennedy) 60

Admission is free at all these events

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