Latin Jam features Cheyenne's own Grupo Folklorico Sabor Latino

Flores De Colores dance troupe brings back awards from Las Vegas competition



This display ad from Cheyenne dance troupe Flores De Colores recently appeared in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The group won a number of awards at a dance competition in Las Vegas. Flores De Colores is on the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster.

17th annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta May 5 at Forum 619 in Cheyenne

One of the vendor tables at Cinco De Mayo Fiesta 2010

The Cinco De Mayo Celebration is presented by the Cinco De Mayo Hispanos Unidos Committee. The 17th annual Cinco De Mayo Fiesta will be held on Saturday, May 5, at the Forum 619 on South Greeley Highway in Cheyenne. It will be from noon to 5:00 pm and is FREE to the public. The fiesta consists of vendors, live entertainment, food, kid carnival and a car show! We also recognize our Cinco de Mayo king and queen, high school students displaying involvement and a positive image for Hispanics. FMI: Contact Linda at 307-635-4369 or by email at ljlovato@bresnan.net.

Cheyenne Hispanic Festival June 3-5

The Cheyenne Hispanic Festival, supported in part by a Cultural Trust Fund grant, will occur in the Cheyenne Depot Plaza June 3 -5, 2011. The festival will include mariachis, jalapeno contest, Aztec dancers, food and craft vendors, live entertainment and more. The Festival will include educational and cultural exhibits. This event provides the opportunity to celebrate the various Hispanic cultures throughout our communities. The event is free to the public. For more information, visit the website. Photo courtesy Cheyenne Hispanic Festival, 2010. 

“Construyendo Latinidad" exhibit at Wyoming State Museum May 1-June 25

“Construyendo Latinidad,” an exhibit at the Wyoming State Museum, examines the history of Hispanics in Wyoming from the late 17^th century to the present. The exhibit opens May 1 and is on display through June 25.

Maps and historic black and white and color photographs demonstrate the effects and changing needs and interests of Hispanics on Wyoming communities. The exhibit consists of 40 16” x 20” panels.

            

The exhibit serves as an example of what American Studies and Anthropology professor, Arlene Davila defines at “Latinidad,” or the ongoing social, economic and political construction of Latino identity by various public and private entities that have portrayed Hispanics as a homogenous racial/ethnic minority.

Undeniably, the sociohistorical Hispanic influence on contemporary Wyoming “Latinidad” from approximately the mid-16^th century through the early-19^th century has proved indelible and provides substantive legitimacy for the northern New Mexico and southern Colorado Hispano/Manito identity for Wyoming Latinos.

For more information about this exhibit, please contact Manny Vigil at 307-777-7025.

April 15 Brazilian Dance Workshop highlights fiesta at UW

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Cinco de Mayo will be first fund-raiser at new Sagebrush Community Art Center in Sheridan

New Sagebrush Community Art Center at Sheridan Historic Depot

The Sagebrush Community Art Center in Sheridan is planning a Cinco de Mayo Celebration on Thursday, May 5, 6-9pm. This will be the first fund-raising event in the new home at the Historic Train Depot, 201 E. 5th St.).

Tickets are on sale at the art center and are $40 per person or $75 for a couple which includes music, a Mexican inspired dinner and one free beverage. Activities include a silent and live auction of artwork from SAGE members and painted and signed ceramic trains from several local celebrities. The trains and ceramic paints were donated by Alex Boyle of “Something to Kiln”, a local paint your own pottery store. There will be piñatas and balloons filled with great prizes including one pass to attend the oil painting workshop by Phil Starke coming in June 2011 in conjunction with the SAGE Juried Art Show. Proceeds will help with art programming and operating expenses of the Sagebrush Community Art Center.

For more information or to purchase tickets please call Executive Director Karen Myers at 674-1970 or email her at artinsheridan@hotmail.com

Sept. 24 deadline for NALAC grants to "support Latino artistic innovation"

From a National Association of Latino Arts and Culture press release:

NALAC Fund for the Arts Grants support Latino artistic innovation, self determination and community empowerment.

The NALAC Fund for the Arts is a field-advised, grant program designed to help Latinos develop their creative talents and make lasting contributions to our communities and society as a whole. Launched in 2005 by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture with major support from the Ford Foundation, the NALAC Fund for the Arts provides financial resources to strengthen Latino arts organizations and to support Latino artists in the creation of their work.

Online and Postmark Deadline: Friday, September 24, 2010

FMI: http://www.nalac.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=4&Itemid=31

Call for entries: "Captivar La Luz" photo exhibit

DEADLINE: Sat, August 14, 2010

"Captivar La Luz: A Latino Experience"

The Texas Photographic Society invites amateur and professional photographers to submit images for "Captivar La Luz: A Latino Experience Exhibit." Projects and Individual images welcome. Juried by Kathy Vargas, Professor of Photography and Chair of the Art Department, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX. Opening at Blue Star LAB, San Antonio, TX on October 1. This exhibit is open to all, as long as the subject of the work is related to Latin American life, culture, conflict and/or any social or economic issues in the United States. $2000 in cash prizes.

Contact: Amber Gibson, 210-824-4123, shows@texasphoto.org

On the web at http://www.texasphoto.org/TPSLatino.html

Organize una Discusion de Libros en Espanol Gratis

El programa de "Reading Wyoming", ofrece siete libros en espanol muy interesantes. El primero es "Bendceme Ultima" escrito por Rodolfo Anaya, es una historia llena de sueos sensuales, supersticiones, fenmenos inexplicados y la oscura fuerza de la teologa Latinoamericana. El segundo libro es "Lluvia de Oro" por Victor Villaseor, un narrativo sobre la riqueza cultural de Mxico, de una familia que sus tragedias son soportadas por el poder mstico y el amor incondicional, y todos los emigrantes: personas valientes que viven la vida con un espritu constante. El tercero es "Balun Canan" por Rosario Castellanos, es una novela que relata una serie de sucesos cotidianos que tienen lugar en un poblado chiapaneco cercano a Guatamela, Balan-Canan. En medio de la tensin en que coexisten dos mundos opuestos -el del hombre blanco y del indio chontal- se mueven diversos personajes en cuya vida se refleja una lucha dramtica y ancestral entre dos razas. El cuarto libro es "Como Agua Para Chocolate" por Laura Esquivel, es una historia que habla sobre el amor prohibido de una mujer Tita y su familia, y la manera como Tita expresa su vida por su cocina, empleja un realismo mgico para combinar lo sobrenatural con lo mundano. El quinto libro "Estacin Tula" por David Toscana, es una narracin que nos deja ver el conflicto entre la identidad del centro y la manera de vida en el norte de Mxico, nos enfrenta a la definicin de novela y a sus lmites de creacin e interpretacin y tambin ofrece al lector una serie de narrativas entrelazadas donde se confunden autor y personajes, ficcin y realidad. El sexto libro "Los de Abajo" por Mariano Azuela, es una historia que revela el drama de los hombres que no saben por qu luchan y tampoco saben cmo dejar de luchar, la novela tambin narra la vida de Demetrio Macas, campesino rebelde que se une a la lucha tras sufrir su familia vejaciones por parte de los soldados. El último libro "Mal de Amores" por Ángeles Mastretta es una narracin de una pasin entrejida entre la historia de un pas, de una guerra, de una familia y de varias vocaciones desmesuradas.

El Consejo de Humanidades de Wyoming, ofrece un programa de discusin de libros gratis para comunidades con patrocinio local de organizaciones sin nimo de lucro, o tambin agencias de gobierno como bibliotecas, museos, iglesias, o centro para la tercera edad. "Reading Wyoming" une los miembros de comunidades, y un lder de temas de humanidades habla sobre siete libros. Las organizaciones de patrocinio escogen las series de libros y reclutan los participantes.

El Consejo de Humanidades de Wyoming provee programas de humanidades públicos en compaa con organizaciones locales, y es patrocinado por La Deuda Nacional para humanidades (Nacional Endowment). Para mas informacin sobre el consejo de humanidades, visite: www.uwyo.edu/humanities o llamar (307) 721-9243

Rojos Calientes performs at NIC's Wednesday Night Live

What do you get when you cross bluegrass with Latin rhythms?

Why Latingrass, of course.

With influences bridging both sides of the equator, Rojos Calientes an exciting new sound to Wednesday Night Live outdoors at the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper on July 14. The free show begins at 5:30 p.m. and goes until 7:30.

Listen to some of the Colorado group's songs at http://www.myspace.com/rojoscalientes

FMI: 307-235-5247

New mural in Laramie celebrates history of Latinos and Latinas in Wyoming

On Saturday, May 1, Paredes Hablando - Walls That Speak, will be unveiled by La Radio Montenesa Voz de la Gente KOCA in Laramie. The mural by Stevon Lucero commemorates Latinas and Latinos in Wyoming.

There will be an 11 a.m. luncheon followed at 1:30 p.m. by the unveiling of the mural, with an Artist's Talk by Stevon Lucero, “The Unyielding Process of Chicano Art.” All events at the Alice Hardy Stevens Center, 603 E. Ivinson Ave., Laramie. At 5 p.m., there will be a screening of a film by Yolanda Cruz, 2501 Migrantes, about a population of a town in Mexico that has been forced to leave to find work.

Info: Connie, 742-2842 cocaj58@aol.com

"Paredes Hablando" mural unveiling May 1 in Laramie

On Saturday, May 1, La Radio Montenesa Voz de la Gente (KOCA) in Laramie unveils its mural commemorating Latinas and Latinos in Wyoming. The mural is "Laramie: Paredes Hablando -- Walls That Speak."

The day will begin with an 11 a.m. luncheon, followed at 1:30 p.m. by the mural unveiling. At 5 p.m., there will be a screening of the film "2501 Migrantes," a 2009 film that documents the population of a town that has been forced to leave to find work. This is at the Alice Hardy Stevens Center, 603 E. Ivinson Ave.

Info: Connie, 307-742-2842; cocaj58@aol.com

Jenna Martinez performs at Wyoming Latina Youth Conference in Cheyenne

Jenna Martinez will perform during the Latin Jam at the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference Oct. 16-18 at Laramie County Community College. For registration forms and more info on the annual Cheyenne conference, go to http://www.lccc.wy.edu/Index.aspx?page=594

"Stories from Cuba and Other Places"

In celebration of Latino Heritage Month in October, Teton County Library in Jackson presents Lucía González, an award-winning author, storyteller and children’s librarian. Her presentation, "Stories from Cuba and Other Places"/Cuentos cubanos y de otres parajes, will take place from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7, in the library's Ordway Auditorium. Free and open to the public. For ages 4-7. Presented in English and Spanish.

A library press release says: "González is a dynamic and versatile performer who enchants audiences with string stories, puppetry, and anecdotes about growing up in Cuba and coming to America."

Contact: Latino Programs Coordinator, Patty Rocha, 733-2164 ext. 237 or procha@tclib.org.

Bio for Aaron A. Abeyta, judge for Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards

The 2010 Blanchan/Doubleday Judge is Aaron A. Abeyta. Here's some bio info:

Aaron A. Abeyta is a Colorado native and professor of English at Adams State College. His first poetry collection, Colcha, received both an American Book Award and the Colorado Book Award. His second poetry collection was As Orion Falls, published by Ghost Road Press. It received a number of favorable reviews, including one from Juan Felipe Herrera, author of Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box:

“There is no other voice that conjures the sky and keeps count of stars as human migrations, moving, fading, and bursting anew as Aaron Abeyta’s. Here he is standing naked and alone on the abandoned snow drifts and tierras, holding them as fallen angels and stellar evidence of our birthright -- the luminous lands we claimed we would honor thirty-five years ago. Abeyta speaks with the voices of Nazim Hikmet, Jim Sagel, Allison Hedge-Coke and Albert Hunter, all lovers of the small earth and its colossal heart."

In 2007, Aaron published his first novel, Rise, Do Not Be Afraid, also published by Ghost Road Press in Denver. Annie Dawid wrote a review in of High Country News:

“Entering Colorado poet Aaron Abeyta’s first novel, Rise, Do Not Be Afraid, is like visiting a world that no longer exists -- if it ever did. Santa Rita, the mythical Western town that forms the subject of this short, dense novel, is a place reminiscent of Eden, both before and after the Fall. One is reminded of Gabriel García Márquez’s fictional Colombian town, Macondo, as Abeyta creates a culture in a specific place and witnesses its dissolution -- from greed, abandonment, the withering of love. Like García Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude, Abeyta begins with an annotated cast of characters, for it’s easy to confuse the people in this novel. Abeyta moves through time and generations as if through memory: ‘That was 1926,’ when the fences were built, we are told in the same paragraph in which we have traveled even further back to the arrival of the treacherous Matthews family in 1878. ‘Santa Rita sat in a long and deep canyon cut by an ancient river of ice, now melted to a river that flowed east toward the Rio Grande. There was no TV reception in Santa Rita. Most news traveled like it always had, by word of mouth.’ ”

Aaron is the recipient of a Colorado Council on the Arts fellowship for poetry. He earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from Colorado State University. He lives in southern Colorado where, as he says in his bio, he can remain close to his family and culture, both of which greatly influence his work. Abeyta was born in 1971.

Reception for Latino baseball exhibit 5:30 p.m., May 1, at Cheyenne Civic Center

The Cheyenne Lobos, one of the teams featured in the exhibit "Sugar Beet Fields to Fields of Dreams: Spanish Contributions to America's Favorite Pastime."

The Wyoming Humanities Council sends this news:

If you happen to be in or near Cheyenne on the evening of Friday, May 1, be sure to swing by the Civic Center for the opening reception for the baseball exhibit, "Sugar Beet Fields to Fields of Dreams," which highlights the contributions of Latino players to the history of baseball.

The exhibit will be on display May 1-30. Opening reception May 1, 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta May 2 in Cheyenne

This comes from Karen Cotton's Backstage Pass blog:

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta facts:

When: Saturday, May 2, noon to 5 p.m. At noon, there will be a presentation of the Cinco de Mayo proclamation with Mayor Rick Kaysen, and Ccrowning of the Rey and Reina.

Where: Cheyenne Depot Plaza, downtown Cheyenne Wyo.

More info: ljlovato@bresnan.net

Car Show: Low Riders, Custom, Classic, bikes, model cars, motorcycles and music more.
More info: Joe, 650-0649

Live band performance by Glen Garcia and his band “Mas O Menos” on Saturday.

Entertainment: Cinco de Mayo Ambassadors: Wyoming Arts Council roster artists Las Flores de Colores (pictured above), belly dancers, Sunshine Generation, rap music, folkloric dance groups, Las Angelitas, Los Rayos del Sol and Grupo Colonias de Jalisco.

For the full entertainment schedule, pick up a copy of ToDo in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

Weather notice: Because this event is held outdoors, if the weather is bad, the event will be cancelled and the event organizers will notify the radio stations, and the newspaper.

This event is funded by the Wyoming Arts Council.

Manuel Munoz to speak at UW book club

The University of Wyoming Office of Multicultural Affairs in Laramie sends this news:

University of Wyoming Ross Hall Book Club. Tuesday October 28, noon to 1:30 p.m. Wyoming Union Room 203. Guest Discussant: Author Manuel Munoz. Space limited to 30 participants. For more information, please call (307)766-4121. Open to faculty, staff, students, and community residents.

Dia de los Muertos "sugar skull" workshop