New York City intends to showcase its diverse Latin community as it plays host for the first time to the Latin Grammy awards. "We are the true Latin capital," said Maureen J. Reidy, the president of NYC Big Events, the city organization that brought the event to Madison Square Garden. "We have the most diverse Latin population."
This year's event marks the first time in the seven-year history of the Latin music awards that tickets to the show were sold to the public.
"We want it to have that flavor of the local community," said Ron Roecker, a spokesman for the Latin Recording Academy, which puts on the Latin Grammys, speaking by telephone Wednesday. "It's really about passion, it's about spirit, and it's about diversity. I think all those things really embody where New York is right now."

Lisa Pursell, associate director of the Latin Collector art gallery, said the city's Latin community can't be defined by one ethnic group. This week the gallery is exhibiting work by Mexican artist Andrea Arroyo that was commissioned for the Latin Grammys.

"Often when people think of Latin things in New York they think of Puerto Ricans, but really it's a lot more than that," Pursell said.

Getting the Latin Grammys to New York City took three years of negotiations, said Reidy, of NYC Big Events. She said the high cost of staging the show in New York City was one reason the awards ceremony wasn't held before this year.

Victor Arango, a spokesman for the Americas Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes Latino culture, said that it was about time the Latin Grammys came to New York. "I think the city is, in its own way, the epicenter of Latin American culture in this country," he said.

Thursday's Latin Grammys includes live performances by pop stars Shakira and Ricky Martin, as well as reggaeton artists Ivy Queen and Wisin & Yandel.

The show, which is sold out to the public, will be broadcast on the Spanish-language Univision Network.