Bomba de Aqui will perform at the fourth annual Latino Art Festival at Springfield Museums.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SPRINGFIELD — Ahead of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the Springfield Museums will host the fourth annual Latino Arts Festival in partnership with Mi Museo Committee. The festival, on Friday, Aug. 28, is free and open to the public.
The Latino Arts Festival is designed to be a celebration of the rich Puerto Rican, Cuban, Afro-Cuban, Portuguese, Mexican, Dominican and Central and South American cultural heritage found throughout Greater Springfield.
“The festival has really grown over the last four years,” said Lydia Martinez Alvarez, chair of the Mi Museo Committee. “When we started, the goal was simply to create a space where we could celebrate Latino arts and culture and bring people together. Now, it has really become something the community looks forward to.” She said more artists, performers, vendors and organizations are involved. “We’re able to showcase even more of the diversity within the Latino community.”
However, Martinez Alvarez said, “The heart of the festival really hasn’t changed. It’s still about bringing people together, celebrating who we are, sharing our stories, and creating an opportunity for people to learn from one another.”
The festival allows Mi Museo Committee to highlight the diverse cultures that exist within the Latino diaspora. “You’re going to see that throughout the festival through music, dance, food, art, crafts, storytelling and the different traditions that people bring with them and those traditions tell stories. They tell us where people come from, what their families have experienced and what they’ve carried with them from one generation to the next.”
She added, “I also love seeing how those traditions evolve. We have people who were born here, people who came here from other countries and younger generations who are putting their own spin on traditions that their parents and grandparents passed down to them. That’s what makes Latino culture so beautiful to me. We honor where we come from, but we’re also continuing to create and define what Latino culture looks like here in Western Massachusetts.”
The Festival begins at 3:30 p.m. with a lecture by Dr. Ariana A. Curtis, curator of Latinx studies at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. A native of Western Massachusetts, Curtis will deliver her talk, “From 413 to DC: Springfield’s Influence on Latinx Stories at the Smithsonian,” which explores how growing up in the Springfield area shaped her work and influences Latino representation at the Smithsonian and elsewhere.
“What makes Dr. Curtis such a great fit is really the perspective she brings,” said Martinez Alvarez. “Her work allows us to have a deeper conversation about Latino history, art, representation and the role that museums and cultural institutions play in telling our stories.”
Martinez Alvarez said those lessons are particularly poignant in Western Massachusetts. “We have such a rich and diverse Latino community, and it’s important that people see themselves and their experiences reflected in the institutions that serve them,” she said.
Between 5 and 8 p.m., there will be guided tours of two exhibits on loan from Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. “Legacies of Surrealism” takes a trip through the unconscious mind of Latin American artists from the latter half of the 20th century, producing dream-like visuals and perspectives. “You’re really looking at how artists use their work to express their experiences and their understanding of the world around them,” Martinez Alvarez said. “When you think about Puerto Rico, there are so many layers to that identity, history, colonialism, culture and what it means to belong.”
With “Markets, Foodways, and the Essence of Place,” which focuses on Puerto Rican markets, plantations and other Latin American scenes of food and its place in everyday life, she said it “really hits home… Food is never just food for us. There’s a story behind it. There’s a family connection. There are memories. There are traditions that have been passed down, and you see that right here in Western Massachusetts. You see it in our restaurants, our markets, our family gatherings and our festivals.”
She continued, “People bring a piece of home with them, and then they build something new here. I think that’s really what both exhibits help us understand that culture travels with us. We can leave one place, but we don’t leave our history and traditions behind. We carry them with us, and they become part of the community we’re building here.”
The exhibits were lent through the Art Bridges’ Partner Loan Network and are sponsored by Connecticut Public.
There will also be an interactive floral art experience with Idalia Long of Social Haus Displays. People can create decorative palm fans using dried floral materials. Families can take part in hands-on art activities including coloring paper fans and maracas, and there will be a book giveaway for children. People can also enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres by NOSH, a cash bar, a DJ and a photo booth by Cumba Entertainment.
At 6 p.m., there will be a live performance by Bomba de Aqui, a Holyoke-based dance and music company that teaches and performs the Afro-Puerto Rican tradition of bomba music. In bomba, the lead drummer and lead dancer work in conversation with each other to set the rhythm, with the drummer following the dancer’s lead.
The Latino Arts Festival is funded largely by a state earmark sponsored by state Rep. Carlos González, state Sen. Adam Gomez and the Springfield legislative delegation. It is supported by El Sol Latino, Full Power Radio, MassLive Media, MassMutual and New England Public Media.
Reflecting on the impact the festival has had, Martinez Alvarez said, “I think that’s probably the most rewarding part — seeing families, young people, elders and people from all different backgrounds come together and feel connected to the celebration.”
