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.
MONDAY, MARCH 4TH
CARNAVAL OPENING PARADE
12:00pm – 1:00pm. School-wide.
Come and join us in celebrating our cultures. Everyone is welcome to participate!
Guest artist and alumnx Kirk Brundage and current student Emilia Desiré lead the CalArts Brazilian Drumming Ensemble in a parade to celebrate the spectacular opening of LatinFest 2019, featuring fashion designs from Floración Fashion Show and costumes made by Peruvian student Maria Laura Sandoval.
LATIN AMERICAN STRINGED INSTRUMENT MASTERCLASS/LECTURE
2:00pm – 4:00pm. Wild Beast Concert Hall
Guest artist José Roberto Hernandez leads a masterclass/ lecture about the Latin American Song, it’s influences from the European troubadour aesthetics and the local regional development in each Latin American country. In addition, he will talk about the introduction of the guitar to the Latin American popular song throughout Latin American history.
Hernandez is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, arranger, producer, musical educator, and ethnomusicologist. In the San Francisco Bay Area where he resides, he is one of the most respected exponents of folkloric music. Born in the city of Cardenas, Tabasco, México, his musical career begins in Tabasco and continues in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico City, and the United States. Surrounded by master folklorists, he roots his career in traditional music and discovers that this is his greatest passion. This transforms him into a collector and performer of native and traditional instruments, and, always thirsting to discover and learn about other cultures, he becomes an investigator of customs and traditions in dance and music. His devotion, creativity, and professionalism in the genre of traditional music have earned him the recognition of great musicians from Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Argentina.
SOUNDS OF THE AMERICAS
8:00pm – 10:00pm. Wild Beast Pavilion.
This celebration of pan-American folkloric musics spans countries, cultures, and time itself. With music both traditional and experimental, instruments modern and ancient, and sounds familiar and abstract, this concert will reinvent how you think about the music of Latin America. Featuring guest artists Ramiro Duarte, Jose Roberto Hernandez, Christopher Garcia, Nadia Calmet, Gino Gamboa, and Kristin Olsen, as well as CalArts students Maya Paredes, Pablo Leñero, Diana Teixeira, Anthony Landers, and Chance Utter.
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