Julio Salgado
CultureStrike and the Center for New Community are hosting the second UndocuNation artist showcase on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina, while the city plays host to the Democratic National Convention. The day before, artists and local activists will host seminars on their shared loves of people, power and art.
The purpose of this event is to expand the conversation of immigration beyond deferred action. The reality is that people are still detained and many are currently in deportation proceedings. As artists, we have the ability to imagine a different world and approach this issue in creative ways.
As CultureStrike co-founder Favianna Rodriguez points out, there’s no more critical medium than art to help us reimagine identity and question the boundary lines that others have drawn for us: “We must challenge notions of exclusivity that permeate the immigration debate. UndocuNation is one way to shift the national imagination on what ‘America’ should look like.”
Participating artists:
Yosimar Reyes: http://yosimar.tumblr.com/
Jasiri X: http://
Felipe Baeza: http://
Laila Nur: http://
Julio Salgado: http://
Kendrea Mekkah: http://
Favianna Rodriguez: http://www.favianna.com/
Los Rakas: http://losrakas.com/
Marco Saavedra: http://
Justin Valas: http://
Dignidad Rebelde: http://
Josh Davis: http://
Sacrificial Poets http://
Ernesto Yerena: http://hechoconganas.com/
See Facebook event for full details and map.
ALSO: On September 4, CultureStrike, Center for New Community and the Latin American Coalition will host UndocuNation Workshops in art, poetry, and film/media at the Latin American Coalition. UndocuQueer artists Felipe Baeza, Yosimar Reyes, Julio Salgado and filmmaker Sophia Cooper as they lead three dynamic workshops on art, poetry and film. They will share their own experiences in those fields and how they’ve applied them to the issue of migrant rights.
Come to Latin American Coalition in Charlotte, North Carolina. Doors at 5:30pm.
4938 Central Ave. Suite 101
Charlotte, North Carolina
See Facebook event for full details and map.
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Full press release:
UndocuNation: A Night of Art, Activism, and Immigrant Rights
CHARLOTTE – CultureStrike and the Center for New Community are pleased to present the second UndocuNation artist showcase on Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at the Neighborhood Theatre – 511 E. 36th Street, Charlotte, NC 28205. Doors open at 6pm.
The event will feature performers such as hip-hop duo Los Rakas, emcee Jasiri X, spoken word artists Sacrificial Poets (Raleigh), singer-songwriter Laila Nur (Greensboro) and more. An art gallery will feature the work of Julio Salgado, Marco Saavedra, Felipe Baeza, Inocente and many other artists from around the country. Artist Favianna Rodriguez and poet Yosimar Reyes will host the event. Special guest speakers include founder of Define American, Jose Antonio Vargas.
On September 4, 2012, as a prelude to the showcase, artists and local activists, in partnership with the Latin American Coalition, will offer workshops on art and activism. Artists play a pivotal role in any social movement. The aesthetic, iconic images, moving prose and poems, and anthems keep the march of history moving forward. UndocuNation is a night devoted to celebrating the artists who have given their labor of love to immigrant rights and the cause of fighting fear and bigotry.
UndocuNation will provide a counter-narrative to the constant clip of anti-immigrant and racial-profiling laws that are proliferating across the country. In a year which the undocumented youth movement soared to new heights and the Supreme Court handed down a ruling on SB1070 that many considered to be at least a partial endorsement of racial profiling, artists kept us in pace with events and our imaginations open to new goals and victories for the movement.
During UndocuNation, we will reflect on the art that has carried us to where we are and begin to envision where it will take us next. Together, we will look forward, never backward, and build a bigger movement for human dignity and the rights of all people.
“We must challenge notions of exclusivity that permeate the immigration debate. UndocuNation is one way to shift the national imagination on what ‘America’ should look like,” said Favianna Rodriguez, co-Founder of CultureStrike and co-host of UndocuNation.
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CultureStrike is an artist-led organization that aims to cultivate innovative and urgent collaborations between artists, writers, musicians, and other cultural workers to shift the national imagination on immigration. CultureStrike organized the first national effort to feature artists and writers on immigration post SB1070. It hosted a groundbreaking delegation that brought over 50 acclaimed writers, visual artists and filmmakers to Tucson and Phoenix. http://culturestrike.net/
The Center for New Community builds community by organizing for racial justice and economic fairness. Based in Chicago, the organization defends democracy, empowers communities, and promotes equality in its commitments to cultivate civic life and advance systemic change in partnership with local leaders, organizations, congregations, and other institutions.http://www.newcomm.org/