6:30-11 pm | All Ages Youth $5 | Adults $15
Nemegata is a fierce power trio fronted by Víctor-Andrés Cruz “El Guámbito” on lead vocals, electric guitar,synth and Colombian percussion. With the taut, polyrhythmic lock of César Valencia “I Nova” on bass, synth, Colombian percussion, and vocals. And Fabián Rincón “Don Fabo” on drums, synth drums, and vocals. Their sound is often described as hallucinatory, otherworldly, and haunting, with a trance-like performance.
The band is heavily influenced by their native Colombian traditions such as cumbia, bullerengue, gaita music, Colombian Andean songs, as well as ’60s and ’70s mind-bending psychedelia from Africa, South America, and the Caribbean.
Nemegata’s futuristic take on tropical Latinx sounds and Abyayalismo has won over audiences and critics alike with their explosive live shows, earning them “Top 10 Local Acts” in 2019, alongside BlackPumas.
Their debut album Hycha Wy (Sonorama Discos) is considered one of Austin’s top 100 albums of 2020. The band has also been nominated for the 2022 Austin Music Awards in the “Best of World Music” category.
Lady Midnight is an ethereal vocalist and performance artist who draws upon her multidisciplinary background in visual art, dance and Afro-caribbean-latinx-indigenous roots to create work that timelessly reflects the collective experience of life. She has been named Best Twin Cities Vocalist, Best New Artist and is the recipient of the Minnesota Emerging Composers Award among other accolades. As Lady Midnight, she has performed at The Red Rocks Amphitheater, scored a silent film for visual artist Kara Walker and performed with internationally acclaimed icons Common, Moby, Andra Day, and Aloe Blacc, among others. Her highly anticipated solo debut album Death Before Mourning was named Best Album of 2020 in the Twin Cities and has gained attention of music critics and magazines.
Lady Midnight continues to hold space for Black, Indigenous, people of color, refugee and immigrant youth within her creative community residencies and projects with NDN Collective, indigenous students on the Red Lake reservation, refugee and immigrant girls and non-bianary students participating in Girls Getting Ahead in Leadership in partnership with Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment, and Kulture Klub Collaborative, a non-profit for youth experiencing homelessness, among many other cultural and educational organizations. She has dedicated her life to empowering youth and using her arts to inspire change and heal collective trauma.
Caballo Cósmico performs music that tells stories of immigration and fused cultural experiences. Founded by Javier Trejo, singer-songwriter from Coahuila, Mexico, raised in St. Paul’s Westside, Caballo Cósmico is built upon musical influences fundamental to Trejo’s musical journey that include old-school country, Tejano music, R&B and Rock, to create a polyrhythmic sound, infused with contemporary synth, guitar and deep bass grooves, that recognizes its Afro-Cuban roots. Caballo Cósmico will take you on a journey throughout time-space.
Palabristas use the ‘power of the word’ to reach out into the community. They are an award winning Minnesota-based collective of Chican@/Latin@ poets and spoken word artists. With members located throughout the country, they use their creative minds and fierce words to speak out about the experiences and challenges of underrepresented communities within the Twin Cities and beyond.
Mexica Yolotl is a community-based traditional dance group founded in 2010 in South Minneapolis by Elba Castillo. The main objective of the group is to preserve Mexica (“Azteca”) traditions and culture for the Latino Community in the Twin Cities. The dance instructor and dancers are volunteers, and together participate in many community events throughout year in the Twin Cities.
Xochi de la Luna is a Salvi-Mexi transgender comedian, multidisciplinary artist, and event producer. Xochi is most well-known for co-founding Uproar Performing Arts, an artist collective of multi-disciplinary comedians going 4 years strong. Together, they program events of radical collective joy, such as variety shows centered on music and comedy nights. In their personal art forms, they focus on stand up, improvised comedy, music and theater. Xochi has been a featured performer, curator and MC for The Walker Art Center, Pangea World Theater, The Weisman Art Center, and many other venues and institutions across the Twin Cities.
Boo McCaleb, also known as Booscapes, is a trans video artist, builder, and designer. Guided by their passion for spirituality and modeling natural systems in imagined spaces, the aim of their work is to facilitate connection and healing found in sensory experiences, moving images, and immersive environments.
Sarahi Orozco is from Durango Mexico. She’s practiced face painting, body art, and photography for 10 years. Her website is: www.expressionsandmore.com
Guillermo Valadez was born in Las Vegas and now lives in Minneapolis. Guillermo has painted murals professionally since 2007. He also travels the U.S. and overseas to paint murals, to create body-art, make-up art, and live art creations at music festivals, and other events. Guillermo’s versatile style is a mix of vibrant colors, fanciful elements and composition that gives his work a feeling of movement. Guillermo’s intentions, through his artwork, is to continue injecting positivity and inspiration into the hearts and minds of viewers while constantly progressing.
Nov 6-13 | All Ages | Free
Gallery Hours:
Nov 6-11, 12-6 pm
Nov 13, 12-3 pm
Flor Soto is a Mexican artist from Sinaloa who creates magical papier-mache sculptures and piñatas. Her art is joyful and full of color. She has showcased her work in the Austin ArtWorks Festival for nine consecutive years in Austin, MN, where she lives. She also has displayed her work in galleries, Dia de Muertos festivals and exhibits in the Twin Cities.
Master puppeteer Gustavo Boada is a theater-based multidisciplinary artist who has worked for more than 25 years in professional theater in several countries that include Peru, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Since 2007, Gustavo formed part of the May Day Parade staff and Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theater. Gustavo teaches puppetry, mask making, stilting, gives artistic residencies, and is frequently commissioned to build big puppets and pageants.
This fall, Gustavo offered a papier-mache ‘Alebrije’ (fantastical animals) workshop with community members from Waite House. The works created by participants will be displayed at our Dia de los Muertos Arts Exhibition.
Alondra Garza bases her art in her own experiences to portray the struggles Tejana/Chicana women face in the contemporary moment; conflicts of identity, culture, language, class, race, body image and beauty. ~ www.instragram.com/alondramg_art
“My work expresses mixed emotions and trauma that I experience as a person of color. I reveal to the viewer stories that live under the shadows. The US laws and regulations force us to reject the notion of self, but I refused to bow down in order to be visible in this country. We are seen as ashes, but we live as fire.”
This piece portrays pain or agony. A deep feeling caused by the decisions we take to be accepted, sometimes influenced by others, that make us think we are sick, feel indecent or incorrect. It was only needed to accept who we truly are. Changing drastically to please others or to be accepted, to be loved is unnecessary.
Pablo Helm Hernandez is an illustrator, muralist, filmmaker and lover of public art. Pablo has been drawing and painting since his earliest days growing up in St. Paul and has blossomed into a skilled and talented artist. Inspired by street art as kid, he grew up to love public art because anyone can see it. He recently found a passion for puppets, working as an apprentice for local puppeteer Gustavo Boada. He created a giant Alebrije-Moose puppet for the 2022 Minneapolis, Lake Street, Dia de Muertos Parade.
(b. Colombia) has made Minnesota her home for 30 years. Gladys received her BA in Fine Arts from Antioquia, Colombia (1994). She was awarded the McKnight Foundation MCAD Fellowship, 2006-2007. Gladys uses her art as a way towards self-discovery and self-realization, immersing herself in her creative process to communicate with her thoughts, feelings and soul, ultimately alchemizing her own recreation.
The art work that Gladys will exhibit at Dia de los Muertos Arts Exhibition is an offering to her late father. Gladys describes her father’s passing as a divine experience and spiritual awakening, full of light and joy.
Rocky Casillas is a Latinx and LGBTQ artist that creates illustrations and comics with a feel-good vibe. Rocky’s art is inspired by the vibrancy of his Mexican heritage and his struggles with identity and anxiety. Through his art, Rocky seeks to empower young people of color and queer kids in recognizing their true potential, overcoming emotional and mental health challenges, and living authentically. ~ www.instagram.com/rokaturas
7 pm | All Ages | Donations Welcome $5-$10
Presented with: (Neo)Muralismos de MN
Art Activity Artists:
Alondra Garza – Papel picado
Tatiana Jara – Flores de papel
Cadex Herrera – Calaveritas de papel
A Flor de Piel was founded in 2007 by front woman, Marisol “La Brava” Ceron and Grammy® and Latin Grammy® nominee multi-instrumentalist Renato “RenaTonatiuh” Ceron along with their daughter Sofia “La Bravita” Ceron. The group’s diverse repertoire includes both traditional music from Latin America such as cumbia, son jarocho, bolero and mariachi, woven into original compositions infused with modern influences ranging from punk rock to lofi hip hop. The band has performed all over Chicagoland and the Midwest. In 2018 the band made their international debut in Mexico. @aflordepielmusic
“This Chicago-based band has, since its inception, developed a musical proposal where modern sounds coexist with tradition.” -Jesús Echeverría, Vócalo Radio, Chicago
“La Bruja” https://youtu.be/4o-6pBeubSM
Tufawon, “2 for 1”, is a Dakota/Boricua singer/songwriter and producer from Minneapolis. His music is a reflection of his life, spirituality and activism. He is a water protector. Tufawon has reinvented his musical style, heard in his recently released album Until The Sun Comes Up. Tufawon released, with a crew of talented artists, the LandBack album (NDN Collective). The album features 10 Indigenous artists from around Turtle Island showcasing music that proclaims what “LandBack” means to them. @tufawon
QueenDuin (qween-dween) is a queer Latinx DJ in the Twin Cities. QueenDuin’s magnetic and musical vibrations encompass the turn-up and sensual liveliness that fits comfortably in any venue. From reggaeton and cumbia vibes to trap soul and electro-dance pop: QueenDuin features a span of music you can’t help but move your body to. QueenDuin’s mission is to ensure and provide a ‘safe’ space for BIPOC and WOMXN to heal and dance in solidarity and to interrupt and dismantle systems of white-supremacy, hetero-patriarchy and misogyny.
Palabristas use the ‘power of the word’ to reach out into the community. They are an award winning Minnesota-based collective of Chican@/Latin@ poets and spoken word artists. With members located throughout the country, they use their creative minds and fierce words to speak out about the experiences and challenges of underrepresented communities within the Twin Cities and beyond.
Chinelo is a traditional carnival style dance from the state of Morelos, Mexico. The dance itself is called “el brinco” (the jump). Chinelo dance is accompanied by a brass band. Chinelo dancers wear spectacular regalia with bearded masks that mock the salon dancing so beloved of the upper classes during the period of the French intervention (1864 – 1867) in Mexico under the hapless Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian and his Empress Carlotta.
Rocksteady Breakfast is a Latino rude ska, two-tone, punk band from Minneapolis.
Boo McCaleb, also known as Booscapes, is a trans video artist, builder, and designer. Guided by their passion for spirituality and modeling natural systems in imagined spaces, the aim of their work is to facilitate connection and healing found in sensory experiences, moving images, and immersive environments. @booscapes
Sarahi Orozco is from Durango Mexico. She’s practiced face painting, body art, and photography for 10 years. Her website is: www.expressionsandmore.com
Guillermo Valadez was born in Las Vegas and now lives in Minneapolis. Guillermo has painted murals professionally since 2007. He also travels the U.S. and overseas to paint murals, to create body-art, make-up art, and live art creations at music festivals, and other events. Guillermo’s versatile style is a mix of vibrant colors, fanciful elements and composition that gives his work a feeling of movement. Guillermo’s intentions, through his artwork, is to continue injecting positivity and inspiration into the hearts and minds of viewers while constantly progressing.
Adriana Cerrillo is the Director of the Minneapolis Public School Board District 4 and community organizer at the non-proif organization For Progress. For the past 13 years, she has been a community activist and organizer advocating for policies to protect and include marginalized communities. In 2007, she entered the world of community organizing while in college, after learning that authorities were threatening to deport a young, undocumented mother in urgent need of medical attention. Adriana fundraised enough money for the woman’s care and founded the Juliana Mateo Foundation for Disabled Farmworkers.
As a Florida resident, she taught at UnidosNow.org and established the Future Leaders Academy for Youth. Adriana stood alongside Manatee County teachers as they rallied for better pay and she worked collaboratively with non-profits statewide to successfully stop Florida from passing its own version of SB-1070. Three years later, Adriana received the NAACP’s 2013 Unsung Heroine Award for her community activism.
Since moving to Minneapolis in 2013, Adriana’s efforts include successfully working to fire a cop guilty of racial profiling in Chaska, collaboratively giving Know Your Rights presentations to communities and teaching an American Basic Civics Program to involve youth in political processes. In 2017, she introduced the Sanctuary Now platform before Minneapolis City Council to protect immigrant and refugee rights. For the last two and a half years, Adriana has actively organized alongside parents at Emerson and other district schools, while working as a family advocate.
Aside from her passionate career in activism and advocacy, Adriana is a mother, grandmother, guardian and business owner.
