New video of Herrera event!

New video just published!

U.S. POET LAUREATE Juan Felipe Herrera comes to East Valley

Thank you Jorge Perezchica for doing a great job.

Live Mariachis at Galilee Center

By Moises Huerta

The Galilee Center in Mecca was a happening place this Thursday June 16. It was our first time to experience the talent of the Paul Lomeli Mariachi Group. As you can imagine the music inspired lots of Mexican emotion and lots of pride. It is not easy to ignore the desert heat but after a while it was all about the music.

It is our pleasure to have Paul Lomeli and his mariachis become part of our effort to spotlight the East Valley and all the talent that has too long gone ignored. Paul and some of his group are recent graduates and they seem to have a grasp on the value of being bilingual and bi-cultural. It is reflected in their excellent mariachi performance.

Here are some images of the day we had at the Galilee Center.

These guys killed it!
Puro orgullo Mexicano...

Completa la oracion:   Antes de morir, quisiera... Quiero que me recuerden por...  La leccion mas importante de mi vida es...

 Oscar making the sentence completion post-it boards. Dude is a total artist even when he prints letters.

(Below) Our photographer Jorge Perezchica moving in for the right shot.

Crisalida Is On The Move!

By Moises Huerta

Lots going on!
The big theme this week is Live Mariachi Music. Paul Lomeli's Mariachi group will be providing the ambience for most of our coming events.
Thursday is a big day. Crisalida will be at the Galilee Center in Mecca providing Live Mariachi music from 3:30-4:30 right before the food distribution. That evening our own Maria Galaviz will begin a new poetry workshop in Spanish in Indio at the Coachella Valley Art Center which will run from 5:00-8:00 pm.
The Crisalida Art Van will soon be visiting the Indio Senior Center and also Martha's Village in Indio. I had the honor of meeting Felicitas Lugo of ISC and Elena Rosenthal of Martha's Village. Plans are set for Crisalida to be at the Senior Center July 30th to celebrate all July birthdays. We will be providing Live Mariachi music for this event.
Plans are also in the works for Crisalida to come to Martha's Village, provide Live Mariachi music, and set up the Art Van for the residents and visitors to enjoy. We were received with much enthusiasm and we hope to incorporate other events as well at both locations. We hope this is just the beginning of another East Valley collaborative effort.
Thank you for all the likes on Facebook and for being a part of a growing East Valley movement.

Rolling in the East Valley

Unrelated to the events but I love this picture