The Latin American Arts Festival (LatinFest) is a multidisciplinary celebration of music, art, film, dance, theater, literature and culture. Its mission is to promote artistic diversity, raise intercultural and intersectional awareness, expose social issues, and challenge stereotypes about Latinxs and Latin America in the school and community.
The LatinFest was born out of the need of representation and exposure of Latin American Art at CalArts and the community at large. This student-lead project was initiated by Diana Teixeira and Eloy Neira (Peru); Emilia Moscoso (Ecuador), Lucas Longaresi (Brazil); Vivian Naranjo (Chile), Leila Jay, Rafael Luna and Rosa Boshier (USA); and Pablo Leñero (Mexico).
The festival not only promotes traditional art forms, but also challenges them and exposes new ones. Organizers strive for the decolonization of the arts, the mind, and the body— questioning what it means to be Latinx while confronting embedded cultural issues such as machismo, xenophobia and aporophobia.
FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH
MARIACHI ARCOIRIS DE LOS ANGELES
12:00pm – 1:00pm. Main Gallery.
The world’s first and only LGBTQ+ mariachi band led by director Carlos Samaniego, Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles is proud to have the first transgender woman, Natalia Melendez, in the history of mariachi as one of its members. Natalia has been featured in a two-part special for Univision news, which depicts her life and struggles as a transgender woman in the mariachi world. As a result of this two-part special, in its short existence, Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Ángeles has been invited to perform for three different morning news shows on Univision, which includes the ‘Lanzate’ program. During each one of these presentations, the mariachi was highlighted because of its special nature in representing the LGBTQ+ community. Due to the history that Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Ángeles is making, a recorded interview from NPR of this groundbreaking ensemble has been archived in the US Library of Congress.
‘ROMA,’ DIR. ALFONSO CUARÓN
7:30pm – 10:00pm. Bijou Theater.
2018, 135 min. Experience the award-winning and critically acclaimed film for yourself on the big screen.
CLOSING CONCERT: SUSANA PINEDA AND RAFAEL AMARANTE
10:00pm – 11:00pm. Roy O. Disney Concert Hall Lobby.
A Latin, world, fusion, voice, and guitar duo combining two cultures, two backgrounds, and two languages, creating one. This exciting project is a collaboration between Colombian jazz singer Susana Pineda and Brazilian guitar player Rafael Amarante in which they explore the frontiers of folk, rock, Latin grooves, and the many vibrant colors of jazz. The repertoire consists of original music and original arrangements of jazz standards and Latin American songs.