Blog - La Peña Cultural Center

August 26, 2015

We won best venue for Social Justice Performances on the East Bay Express!

What’s going on at La Peña?

We were recently awarded Best of the East Bay – Best Venue for Social Justice Performances in the East Bay Express. Shout out to Radix, Smokes Poutinerie, The New Parish, and The Rock Steady, who also won awards!

We wouldn’t have gotten this far without our community! Thank you!

Our award, alongside of the Best of the East Bay issue

Chile at La Peña

During the month of September, La Peña remembers the barbarism of the 1973 military coup in Chile, mourns the deaths, disappearances, and torture of friends and compañeros, reflects on the invasive role of the United States foreign policy in Latin America, and celebrates the militants, solidarity activists, and cultural workers who responded to injustice with their passions and sometimes their lives. On Friday evening, September 11, the Peña community will gather at 6:30 for a shared potluck dinner, ceremonies, music, and compañerismo.

On Saturday morning, September 12, from 10-12am, La Peña will host short presentations and a participatory dialogue: Forty-two years after the coup: Where do we stand? Topics will include the effects of neoliberalism, current governments and militarism, the cooptation of left politicians, the role of cultural resistance, indigenous cosmovisions and sumac kawsay, ecosocialism, and other radical imaginations of the way forward in old and new forms of community organizing.

On Saturday, September 19th, 12-2pm, we will screen the documentary “Special Circumstances” on U.S. foreign policy in the 1970’s, the effects of the coup, and the current legacies of Pinochet. Director Hector Salgado will lead a conversation afterward. On Saturday, September 26th, 12-2pm, La Peña will screen the documentary “Archeology of Memory” on exile and the role of public memory and memorial. Director Marilyn Mulford will lead a conversation afterward. Donations requested if affordable to help La Peña carry on.

Pictures from the 4th Annual San Francisco Son Jarocho Festival Workshops

Workshops took place at La Peña from August 11-13. We offer weekly Son Jarocho workshops in zapateado, jarana, and versada on Wednesdays. Click here for class schedule.

Factories in the Fields – August 12

Did you know that workers just hours south of the Bay Area are getting paid starvation wages? Did you hear that these workers waged a historic strike demanding dignity earlier this year? They talked about these issues and more.

Japanese Obon

Obon is a custom that honors the spirits of one’s ancestors. It is believed as a day that the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars in Japan. People often return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors’ graves.

Obon Dancing Experience: Japanese Day of the Dead took place at La Peña on August 15.

August 20, 2015

BREAKING: Daniel Maher Released from Immigration Detention

We are glad to share this news with our community, which is courtesy of ADVANCING JUSTICE. Visit their website here.

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August 14, 2015

Are You Food Insecure?

What Is Food Security?

Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum:

The ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods.
Assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies).

Here are some facts you might want to know:

These are the stats for the U.S. alone. This is why we should be concerned.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. “We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

2. “The food that we bought just didn’t last and we didn’t have money to get more.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

3. “We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.” Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

4. In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in the household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

5. (If yes to question 4) How often did this happen–almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

6. In the last 12 months, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

7. In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn’t eat, because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

8. In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

9. In the last 12 months did you or other adults in your household ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food? (Yes/No)

10. (If yes to question 9) How often did this happen–almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

Why? These are survey questions used by USDA to assess Household Food Security. If you answered those questions with confidence, congratulations! You’re one of the lucky ones.

No matter what your results are, we should all be concerned about the current food security issue in the U.S. Food First is having a discussion about food security and a documentary showing of Edible City this coming Wednesday (Aug 19) at 6:30pm.

The event is FREE! So make sure to check out the details here:

Free and Open to the public. Donations welcome.

Food and drink available for purchase from Los Cilantros.

In the midst of summer bounty in the produce-rich Bay Area, Food First hosts a discussion on the role of farmers’ markets in achieving food security. Starting off the evening with a brief introduction to Food First, we will watch a clip of Edible City, a compelling documentary about the food movement here in the Bay Area. The film will be followed with a presentation by two current Food First interns, Julie Burton and Erin Raser, on their research findings regarding farmers’ markets and food security in Costa Rica. We’ll leave plenty of time for discussion about how the twin goals of food security and farm security can be bridged by community efforts.

About Food First

The mission of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, better known as Food First, is to end the injustices that cause hunger.

Food First envisions a world in which all people have access to healthy, ecologically produced, and culturally appropriate food. After 40 years of analysis of the global food system, we know that making this vision a reality involves more than technical solutions—it requires political transformation. That’s why Food First supports activists, social movements, alliances, and coalitions working for systemic change. Our work—including action-oriented research, publications, projects and Food Sovereignty Tours—gives you the tools to understand the global challenges, build your local movement, and engage with the global movement for food sovereignty.