Featuring works from: Juan R. Fuentes, Pepe Coronado, Sandra C. Fernández, Lisa Kokin, and Juana Alicia. Curated by Biel Delgado Trabal, a Jersey-born Boricua, Graduate Research Scholar at the Center for the Arts & Religion (CARe), Graduate Research Fellow at the Latinx Research Center, Archivist at La Peña Cultural Center and Research Associate at Native Bound Unbound. Photos by Muhammad Delgado and Consuelo Tupper.
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A Letter from our Director Natalia Neira
Dear LP Community,
After 8 years of service, I am transitioning out of La Peña and passing on the baton to our incredible professional team that we’ve worked hard to develop over the years. It’s been an honor and a privilege to work in service of this extensive and powerful community and I take away many memories and much respect for everyone who has shown up to support. I leave La Peña feeling more inspired and certain that arts and culture are essential to our well-being.
Running a nonprofit and serving the community through the arts is a true labor of love and we’ve overcome roadblocks together as a coalition of sorts. I am especially proud of the team culture we have developed; it is our greatest asset in uplifting this community ecosystem. Each of us brings our own set of skills, lived experiences, cultures and communities of origin to represent the voices of the people we seek to serve.
We came together both in the good and the challenging times, supporting each other during the pandemic and, before that, recovering from the ripple effects of the 2008 recession. The fact that La Peña endured these crises, when many arts organizations closed, is a major testament to the great work we’ve carried out. Former co-director Bianca Torres and I strove to find solutions to a slew of challenges, breaking through systemic barriers of funding access. The effects of racism, colonization and other forms of oppression have left BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) arts organizations under-resourced and undervalued. Over the years we joined forces with many other groups to fight to change that and had many successes. From being selected into the LANE program, to co-chairing the Berkeley Cultural Trust’s (BCT) Equity & Inclusion Committee, to joining forces with multiple coalitions to bring in more arts funding to our city, region and state, we worked hard to have our community’s voices heard at decision-making tables for more equitable arts funding. It is important that we continue to push to position La Peña not at the bottom of the pyramid of funding, but rather, to be considered an important actor in how this landscape gets more equitable. When La Peña is better-resourced, our extensive community networks of artists, cultural workers, community organizers and activists wins.
I’m proud of the fact that during my tenure we were able to lean into this hunger for justice to bring in resources and grow the professional team from three to six people. We established liberatory structures so the team could catch up between seasons, and supported them by establishing living wages, health insurance, increased vacation time and other important benefits to offer better work-life balance. These changes were implemented at the pace that funding and collective decisions allowed, resulting in the conditions you see today.
Simultaneously, we successfully fundraised and executed the replacement of a dilapidated roof; installed solar panels; brought the building up to code; repaired the restaurant, upgraded to better sound and AV equipment; invested in the next generation of artists and cultural workers; grew our volunteer program tenfold based on manageable shift times, reciprocity and attractive programming; grew our events team while retaining and hiring exemplary community leaders; created intentional programming and set up conditions to combat systems of oppression; established community agreements; institutionalized land acknowledgements with action; and deepened our relationships with our community through partnership and collaboration.
I know you will continue carrying this collective vision for this space and the great work that it creates.
While I’ll be shifting my focus to other community-driven projects where I will continue to advocate for equity and justice for our community, I will continue to support La Peña and all of you. Thank you to everyone who participated and showed up for one another. I see you and appreciate you.
Lastly, but most importantly, I want to give a heart-felt thanks to my family, my ancestors, my mentors, my friends, and my partner Arturo for nourishing me so that I could show up for us.
All the LOVE, all the POWER, and all the NEWEN to each one of you.
Natalia Neira Retamal
Executive Director
Lapena.org
¡Batey Boricua!
Join us for a jammin afternoon! Family friendly community Bomba jam! March 3rd, 2024, from 3pm to 6pm. Donations $5-$20.
ABOUT BAY AREA BOMBA Y PLENA WORKSHOP:
At the Bay Area Bomba y Plena Workshop at La Peña, youth and adults study and perform traditional forms of Puerto Rican music and dance. Bringing together folks from diverse cultural backgrounds united by their common love and passion for Puerto Rican music, in particular the traditions of Plena and Bomba.
Under the direction of Shefali Shah and Héctor Lugo, with the generous support of el maestro Román “Ito” Carrillo as well as numerous masters and practitioners from the Island, The Workshop has been in existence for 17 years promoting the study and appreciation of traditional Puerto Rican music, its history and evolution, and its place in the broader Afro-Caribbean musical culture. The group performs Bombas, Plenas, as well as pieces from the Jíbaro music tradition using a variety of typical instruments such as the barriles, the cuás, panderos, güícharo, maracas, cuatro and guitar.
Nature Stories: Art + Science for Our Planet
Join us for an evening of powerful presentations at “Nature Stories: Art + Science for Our Planet”!
Immerse yourself in captivating stories about nature expressed through art forms including dance, music, song, and enriched by insightful talks from scientists, activists, and beyond. Together, let’s cultivate a deeper connection to our planet through meaningful engagement and exploration, and get involved in creating positive environmental change.
- Sunday, March 10 | 7:30 – 9:30pm
- Full Lineup & Tickets at bit.ly/naturestories2024
- Event presented by PURE Globe Directed by Kaeshi Chai Co-organized and co-hosted by Ilonka Zlatar @ilobead
10th Annual Rafael Manríquez Festival
This event will be a beautiful opportunity to gather and honor the life, music, friendship, and eternal legacy of our beloved Rafael Manríquez. It will be a celebration of his life, music compositions, and decades as La Peña’s cultural ambassador.
TICKETS | VOLUNTEER AND COME FOR FREE!
About Rafael Manríquez (3/27/1947-6/26/2013)
Rafael Manríquez was a beloved artist, guitarist, singer-songwriter, social activist, and champion of Chilean folk music. Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1947, Manríquez fell in love with the guitar at age 15 and followed his passion for nueva canción, the musical movement that combined rural, urban, Indigenous, mestizo, and pan-Latin American sounds with a commitment toward social change. Manríquez worked as a music journalist during one of the most momentous times in Chilean music history. As a reporter for the music magazine El Musiquero (1970-1973), he interviewed, reviewed, and wrote about key figures such as Víctor Jara, Inti-Illimani, Quilapayún, and Violeta Parra.
In 1970, as a performer he graced the stage at Festival de Viña as a part of Ñancahuazu with Kiko Alvarez and their song Cordillera Americana. He also performed as Jose Simón, a singer of romantic ballads – Gracias una vez más. It was the time of socialist president Salvador Allende, and performances by Latin American artists from like-minded movements such as Cuba’s Silvio Rodríguez (whom he also interviewed) and Pablo Milanés were commonplace at musical events. Rafael was among the many musicians deeply influenced by the musicality and lyricism of the Cuban Trova (Cuba de Guillén y Martí).
Then came the fateful day of September 11 th, 1973, when the commander-in-chief of the Chilean army, Augusto Pinochet, led a coup d’état, overthrowing Allende, and his government. Repression of leftist parties and ideologies followed, with thousands of people tortured and killed.
Rafael chose self-exile, first to Tumbaco, Ecuador, then in 1977 to Berkeley, California, where he lived most of the rest of his life. For more than three decades, he was a longtime fixture at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, “the Music Man of La Peña (per the local press)” was a cultural ambassador performing between ten to twenty shows a year. Through an ongoing grant of the California Arts Council, for more than two decades, he was artist in residence there teaching guitar and Latin American folk music. In Rafael’s own words, La Peña was where he found his place. There he advocated for culture, worked for various solidarity causes and generously shared his music and talent. Rafael’s unstinting commitment to “la música con sentido” led him to be one of the founders of, musical arranger and longtime director of the La Peña Community Chorus.
By 1980, he and several others had formed Grupo Raíz, following the model of Chilean nueva canción groups. Grupo Raíz toured Europe, as well as North, Central, and South America, releasing three long-play recordings during their most active period, from 1980 to 1985. Their debut album Un Solo Camino, featured primarily songs composed by Rafael Manríquez. The two following albums, Amaneceres (Daybreak, 1981) and Por América del Centro (For Central America, 1984), were published on the Monitor label, which later became part of the Smithsonian Folkways collection.
After Grupo Raíz in 1985, Rafael returned to his solo career, releasing several full-length solo albums Andares, Canto a Gabriela, La Travesía, Canto y Soneto, and Hoy. He continued recording with other artists, such as his collaboration with David Barrows in Canto al Poeta and Amistades with Quique Cruz.
For Smithsonian Folkways, Rafael Manríquez produced and recorded ¡Que Viva el Canto! Songs of Chile (2008). This recording clearly demonstrates his commitment to showcasing Chilean culture and cultural workers, featuring over a dozen renowned Chilean musicians, including his dear colleague and friend Eduardo Peralta. ¡Que Viva el Canto! is a carefully curated compendium of twenty-five songs from three regions of Chile.
Following Rafael’s untimely demise on June 26, 2013, his family released two recordings, a double CD with a remastering of Andares and Hoy in 2014, and, in 2017 a full-length album “El Pajaro Vuela” featuring master performances by John Santos and Rebeca Mauleon, recorded at Bay Records.
Rafael composed over a hundred timeless songs in various Latin American styles, often transforming the poetry of Gabriela Mistral and Neruda into powerful lyrics. He was also an intrepid poet who created multiple notebooks of reflections and poetry that still await publication. His talent, resilience and dedication inspire our continued commitment to performing his music and sharing his poetry.
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