Festival celebrates Latino diversity

Students danced the cumbia, bought artesanias and ate delicious empanadas on a sunny Saturday during the 10th annual Festival Latino.

The Latin American Student Association hosted the event and brought together students, community members, local bands and vendors for a day to celebrate Latin American culture.

A wide array of bands played throughout the day, and behind the dance floor were tents where vendors sold items including politically themed T-shirts and traditional Mexican crafts.

Cireina Ramirez, who worked at the booth for a local store called “Oaxacan Art,” said though business was slow this year, the store has had a booth at the event for the past seven years and enjoys supporting events celebrating Latino culture.

To educate attendees about Latin America and highlight its diversity, organizers constructed a walk-through tent with maps, flags and information about each country in the region.

Both organizers and attendees agreed the event is unique because it highlights Latin American culture as a whole instead of focusing just on Mexican culture. They also said they feel Latino culture is underrepresented on campus, so they appreciated having a chance to come together.

“I feel like there is, especially in Southern California, a natural sort of curiosity about Latin American culture,” said Gabriella Rosca, a member of the organization that helped organize the event.

Third-year history student Dante Cruz said that seeing such a vibrant cultural celebration in the middle of campus was surreal.

“I think it’s cool to have something at UCLA celebrating your culture,” he said.

In attendance were students and faculty, and the student association bussed in members of the Boys and Girls Club and high school students, who received a special tour in the morning.

The association specifically reached out to high school students in East Los Angeles to bring them to the event and inform them about educational opportunities and the benefits of higher education.

“A lot of Latin American students aren’t getting into higher education. … So that’s why one of our biggest things is higher education. We asked a lot of our members of LASA … to go back to their high schools,” said Luisa Garcia, one of the organizers of the festival.

After the festival, organizers held a fundraiser for a scholarship that is sponsored by a coalition of student groups and awarded to incoming undocumented students.

Also part of the event was a political message about Latin American identity and pride among Latinos, which was reflected in things such as T-shirts of Che Guevara and the music.

“One of our pillars for LASA really stresses political awareness, so we thought it was important for that component to become a part of festival,” Garcia said. “A lot of it was focused on immigration as well. … The theme of festival was “˜unidos sin fronteras,’ which means “˜united without borders.'”

The musical acts were an important draw for attendees and included Mexican “˜son jarocho’ and Colombian “˜cumbia.’ Performers kept with the political message of the event.

“It’s part of the culture. Preserving one’s culture ““ that’s political in and of itself,” Cruz said.

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