La Peña Cultural Center

Welcome to La Peña! Promoting social justice & intercultural understanding through the arts since 1975.

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Día de Muertos

Come celebrate Día de Muertos with us at La Peña! This is an invitation to bring our community together to participate in a pre-hispanic ritual that helps us to grieve and celebrate our loved ones who have become ancestors. All ages are welcome, come with your family! THIS EVENT IS DONATION-BASED. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING PROGRAMS LIKE THIS!

The theme for our altar this year is “Honoring Victims of State Violence,” through which we seek to center the lives taken away by racist, colonial, imperial and extractivist systems of destruction. Let the souls of our ancestors rest in power and show us the path toward a life in harmony with the land and each other.

 

The night will offer:

  • Participatory Altar Ceremony: if you would like to participate in the community altar, bring any offering of food, candles, pictures, etc. (Do not bring anything of value that you want to take home with you because this community altar is staying up all night)
  • Aztec Dancers
  • Activities for Kids
  • Food by Los Cilantros Restaurant
  • Handcrafted Goods for Sale
  • Son Jarocho Presentation and Fandango to End the Night!

Empowering Youth of Color Open Mic


Get ready and mark your calendar because the time has come for a new season of our Empowering People of Color Open Mic! And given the success of its first-ever iteration back in April of this year, we are kicking off the series with a special night dedicated to youth up to 24 years old.

The goal of this Open Mic is to nourish a bold, intergenerational arts community that can respond to centuries of under/misrepresentation, challenge hegemonic narratives, and make real social change happen, one performance at a time. We want to hear you, support you, and transform the world with you!

  • TICKETS HERE! This event is made possible 100% by your contributions.
  • Sign up to volunteer! Each shift includes free food and beverages.
  • Sign-up to perform! 5-minute slots available (for artists under 24 years old).
  • Doors open at 7:30pm. We recommend arriving early to get some food and drinks.
  • Featured Artists will be announced soon.

Event presented by La Peña Cultural Center and Beats, Rhymes & Life. Questions? Contact us at Lapena.org

RAGKO, Untamed Territory: Mapuche Film Screening & Q&A

Come and learn how a 5,000-year-old culture is still alive and resisting by embracing their interactions with the environment and each other, offering ancestral perspectives that could provide answers to current societal issues. Join us for an engaging screening of “RAGKO, Untamed Territory,” an independent documentary offering a contemporary view of the Mapuche culture.

 

What to Expect:

  • Film Screening: Participate in this early screening of “RAGKO,” which reveals the Mapuche culture’s fight against colonial injustices, oppressive actions by Chilean and Argentine governments, and environmental harm from industrial activities. The film offers a perspective that honors Mapuche wisdom and culture.
  • Special Guest Q&A: Engage with Lonko Juanita Millal, chief of the Chol Chol Group of La Granja (Santiago) and a member of Chile’s Lonko Council.

 

About our collaborators:

  • Lonko Juanita Millal (chief) of the Chol Chol Group of La Granja (Santiago) and a member of the Lonko Council, recognized by Chile’s National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI). Lonko Juanita has dedicated her life to uplift Mapuche culture, protect the land, waters and the people, creating solidarity among marginalized communities and bringing awareness of the Mapuche peoples’ present day fight against colonization, displacement, incarceration and violent repression. Lonko Juanita Millal is currently in a Political Asylum Process in the Bay Area.
  • Javier Tavolari Muñoz is a Chilean artist, graphic designer, photographer and musician, among other things. In 2021, thanks to a trip organized by his brothers he visited Arauco for the first time, where he met Vicente Clemente Ratto (co-director/editor of RAGKO) and realized the significant history of the Mapuche culture that needed to be shared to get rid of the prejudice and ignorance that was perpetuated by traditional education. This realization led them to create RAGKO, a project dedicated to reconnecting with and sharing the Mapuche ancestral culture with the world. Dedicated to the Mapuche cause, he finds in San Francisco the people and the spaces to make KIÑE, the first episode.

 

Learn More:

Don’t miss this opportunity to deeply engage with the Mapuche culture and their ongoing fight for justice, including their struggle against displacement, land dispossession, and violent repression by the state. We look forward to seeing you at La Peña!

Grito de Lares and Tribute to Dylcia Pagán

The Boricua community in the diaspora and allies commemorate “EL GRITO DE LARES 2024” Puerto Rico’s Cry for Independence and Tribute to Dylcia Pagán. Join us for a tardeada of poetry, film, music, community building and tribute to former political prisoner patriot and activist Dylcia Pagán.

When:
Sunday, September 22, 2024, at La Peña Cultural Center.
3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley (closest BART Station: Ashby BART)
– 4:00 pm Door, Slide Show and Silent Auction
– 4:30 pm Main Event to include film clip La Fuerza de los Pueblos, poetry, tributes and various music groups

MASKS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE.

This program is presented by a coalition of local diasporic groups (Bay Area Boricuas, Boricuas de Berkeley, Bay Area Alliance for a Sustainable Puerto Rico (BAASPR), & La Tertulia Boricua in partnership with La Peña Cultural Center in commemoration of “ El Grito de Lares” (Puerto Rico’s 1868 uprising again colonialism).

Partial List of Performers:
Poetry by: Avotcja, Susana Praver-Pérez, Naomi Quiñonez, María Medina and Rico Pabón
Music by: Madeleine Zayas and Friends, Batey Tambó, and more…

ABOUT GRITO DE LARES
On September 23, 1868, Puerto Rican independence fighters staged an armed uprising against Spanish rule. Their historic revolt, known as“El Grito de Lares” (The Cry of Lares), lives today as an inspiration to all Puerto Ricans. Though this Republic lasted only a short time, the struggle of the Puerto Rican people for sovereignty continues to this day.

¡Fonda en La Peña!

¡Vuelve la Fonda Dieciochera en La Peña! Este año estamos felices de ofrecer un espacio para juntarnos en comunidad y celebrar como chilenxs de la diáspora (con toda la diversidad que eso significa) que tenemos una “casa fuera de casa” aquí en Berkeley.

¡Siéntanse libres de invitar a sus familias y amigues, chilenxs o no! Aquí en La Peña honramos la unión de los pueblos por fuera de las fronteras que los Estado-nación nos han impuesto desde la colonia. No a la independencia que oprime. ¡Sí a la libertad y autodeterminación comunitaria!

  • Cuándo: Sábado 21 de septiembre. 7:30pm-12:00am
  • Dónde: 3105 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705
  • Música: la mejor selección con nuestro querido DJ José Ruiz: cuecas, cumbias, clásicos, reggaetones, algo para los nostálgicos, ¡y mucho más!
  • Bar: tragos clásicos chilenos, cerveza, vino, opciones sin alcohol
  • Comida: el infaltable completo (carnívoros y opción vegetariana)
  • Entradas: $10 (online) | $15 (7:30pm-9pm) | $20 ( 9pm+)
  • Sé voluntaria/o y disfruta de la noche gratis

Todo lo recaudado va para apoyar a La Peña en estos momentos difíciles. ¡Celebremos con cariño y cuidándonos entre todxs!

Importante:

  • No se permitirá entrar a La Peña con alcohol
  • Por favor evitar llegar en estado de ebriedad
  • Seamos conscientes de que La Peña es un centro cultural comunitario que debe cuidarse para que instancias como éstas se puedan repetir todos los años. ¡Pasémoslo bien sin destruir!

¡Muchas gracias y nos vemos!