The community media channel BronxNet announced Tuesday that its fun and educational puppet show which teaches children about the importance of caring for the environment earned a nomination for a 2025 New York Emmy Award.
Featuring characters like Cardi G, LeTron James and JB8 who traveled back in time to help kids save the planet from climate disaster, BronxNet’s “EcoLeaders” was nominated in the Children (Youth 12 and Under) Short or Long Form Content category.
One of the show’s creators, Alba Garcia, an award-winning local designer and animator, told the Bronx Times that it was important for the show to tackle environmental issues that were relevant to children in the Bronx.
“ We wanted to show what’s happening with our land, the landfills, what happened with our water and what’s happening with our air,” Garcia said. “Those are pressing issues that our kids and our communities are facing with the pollution and global warming.”
The episode earning recognition, titled “EcoLeaders: An Idea for Change,” centers around something too many children in the Bronx are personally familiar with— “Asthma Alley.” Joined by guest star state Sen. Nathalia Fernandez, the cast of puppet EcoLeaders explore ideas for ways that people of any age can help improve the air quality in their community.
As someone who lives with asthma, Garcia said that her personal experience made her think about what children in the Bronx who also live with the condition go through.
“ I have to get up every day and go to the city in a mask and things like that,” Garcia said. “I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, how many kids that are having this trouble are going to be suffering?’”
The series was funded through the Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) artist employment program, which provided Garcia and her collaborators, puppetry artist Kervin Peralta, and actress and voiceover performer Paola Poucel, with a two year residency through BronxNet.
Poucel told the Bronx Times that winning the CRNY grant offered a much needed reprieve from the strain that she and many artists experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said her whole family was able to work on “EcoLeaders.” Poucle’s husband, Jesus Alarcon, wrote and directed most of the episodes and their son, Logan J Alarcon-Poucel, who was 8 when the show began filming, played a regular character on the show named Jeff.
“ Basically it’s a family project,” Poucel said. “So just to see that recognized— all that hard work for the past two years was recognized like by something like the New York Emmys is like the cherry on top.”
Poucel, who also works with children in a bilingual theater program, said that it was important for the show to demonstrate to its young audience that they are not powerless.
“ We wanted to have a more modern approach that we as a community, as individuals, we can do something to actually change our future and our world,” Poucel said. “So with ‘An Idea for Change’ we wanted to show the problem that is affecting kids, affecting your schoolmates. It affects maybe you or your siblings and what we can actually do to fix the problem.”
Poucel voices the EcoLeader, Cardi G, who is loud and outspoken with bright pink hair and steam punk goggles. Poucel said she injects a lot of herself into her character, who is always brimming with energy.
“I’m Cardi,” Poucel said. “She’s so excited all the time.”
Puppetry artist, Kervin Peralta, who plays the EcoLeader LeTron James, told the Bronx Times that EcoLeaders represented a true collaboration between artists sharing and building on each others’ ideas.
“ I’ve been in show business for 25 years, and it felt very redeeming and and very proud,” Peralta said. “Also, not just thinking of myself, but thinking of my other collaborators and how I was filled with pride because I’m getting to share this moment with two other wonderful artists and also by extension, our family of other puppeteers and producers and the whole Bronx Net team.”
He said that one reason he felt strongly about making a show about the environment is because during the COVID-19 pandemic, he found solace outdoors walking through Bronx Park.
“ I remember that I was really upset that I lived by Bronx Park and a lot of the littering happens,” Peralta said. “We’re not taking care of our environment, even in the Bronx.”
Unfortunately, Peralta said, vital resources like green spaces are often neglected.
“It’s one of those things that we have to be the best stewards of, but it’s the thing that we quickly forget,” he said.
The 68th annual New York Emmy winners will be announced on October 11. Catch episodes of “EcoLeaders,” on demand through BronxNet’s youtube channel and at www.bronxnet.tv.
