VLACC

Latin American Short Stories Reading Group with Venezuelan writer Helen Cova
2023-10-21 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Vancouver) | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
We’re pleased to present a SPECIAL EDITION of our Latin American Short Stories Reading Group. This event is open to anyone interested in short stories written by Latin American authors.
Join us on Saturday, October 21, at 4:00 pm at the SFU (Vancouver Campus) – Belzberg Library for a conversation on the stories “Splinter,” “Astronaut,” “New God” and “Inside” by Venezuelan writer Helen Cova, who is visiting Vancouver as a Writers Fest guest. Chilean-Canadian, Carmen Rodríguez will be facilitating the conversation.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/latin-american-short-stories-reading-group-with-venezuelan-writer-helen-cov-tickets-721576273057?aff=oddtdtcreator

You can access the stories on the following link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TOX2BJ6H2aHSyiwZPXr0KBtzzpzEBa5q?usp=sharing

The stories are in English translations. Discussions will also be led in English. No background in Latin American literature or culture is required.
Date: Saturday, October 21
Time: 4:00 – 5:30 pm
Location: SFU (Vancouver Campus) – Belzberg Library (515 W Hastings St, Vancouver)

Short Bio
Helen Cova is a Venezuelan writer in Iceland. Author of Autosarcophagy: To Eat Oneself and the Snulli series, her work has been published in journals including Ós – The Journal, Timarít mál og menningar, Skáldreki and The Polaris trilogy, an anthology meant to arrive on a NASA flight at the Moon’s South Pole.

Carmen Rodríguez is a bilingual (Spanish and English), Chilean-Canadian writer and educator. She is the author of Guerra Prolongada/Protracted War, a volume of poetry; De cuerpo entero/and a body to remember with, a collection of short stories; and the novels Retribution and Atacama. Rodríguez lives in Vancouver.

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With thanks to the SFU Belzberg Library
In partnership with

Latin Expressions in Three Conversations
2023-10-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Celebrating international authors and discovering writers from different cultures is one of the many highlights of the Festival, and this year, we delve into works from Latin American writers. Each offers fascinating, heady insight into the lives of women. Carmen Boullosa is one of Mexico’s leading novelists, poets, and playwrights. The Book of Eve tells the story of the original woman—and the fall of man—from her perspective. Helen Cova was born and raised in Venezuela and now resides in Iceland. Autosarcophagy – To Eat Oneself fearlessly delves into child mistreatment, motherhood, and anxiety in precise short stories. Beatriz Hausner, who, as a teenager, moved to Canada from Chile, reawakens the legacy of a fourth-century Byzantine mathematician and philosopher who, against convention, is also a woman in She Who Lies Above. Hosted by Carmen Rodríguez.
Date: Friday, October 20
Time: 6:00 pm
Venue: The Revue Stage ( 1601 Johnston St, Vancouver)
Register: https://www.showpass.com/2023-festival-59/

About the writers:

CARMEN BOULLOSA is one of Mexico’s leading novelists, poets, and playwrights. She has published over a dozen novels, three of which have been published by Deep Vellum in English translation. Boullosa has received numerous prizes and honors, including a Guggenheim fellowship. Also a poet, playwright, essayist, and cultural critic, Boullosa is a Distinguished Lecturer at City College of New York, and her books have been translated into Italian, Dutch, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian. Other novels translated into English include Before (tr. Peter Bush, Deep Vellum, 2016), Heavens On Earth (tr. Shelby Vincent, Deep Vellum, 2017) and The Book of Anna (tr. Samantha Schnee, Coffee House Press, 2020).

HELEN COVA is a Venezuelan writer in Iceland. Author of Autosarcophagy: To Eat Oneself and the Snulli series, her work has been published in journals including Ós – The Journal, Timarít mál og menningar, Skáldreki and The Polaris trilogy, an anthology meant to arrive on a NASA flight at the Moon’s South Pole.

BEATRIZ HAUSNER was born in Chile and immigrated to Canada when she was a teenager. She has published many books, Enter the Raccoon and Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. Her work has been translated into several languages, including her native Spanish, French, Dutch, and Greek. She was a founding publisher of Quattro Books. Hausner lives in Toronto.

CARMEN RODRÍGUEZ is a bilingual (Spanish and English), Chilean-Canadian writer and educator. She is the author of Guerra Prolongada/Protracted War, a volume of poetry; De cuerpo entero/and a body to remember with, a collection of short stories; and the novels Retribution and Atacama. Rodríguez lives in Vancouver.

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In partnership with the Writers Fest

Noche de Teatro, a Carmen Aguirre New Play Sneak Peek
2023-10-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Join Electric Company Theatre Core Artist, award-winning theatre maker and best-selling author, Carmen Aguirre, for an exclusive glimpse into her new play, Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project in advance of its premiere at the 2024 Chutzpah! Festival in November 2024. Carmen will read excerpts from her script, followed by Q&A moderated by the VPL Head of Programming, Jorge Amigo. Casual socializing, refreshments available.
In Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project, Carmen Aguirre tackles the dialectic between art and revolution by excavating Tina Modotti’s life and art, and, in so doing, reflecting on our own lives through hers. This Italian photographer and her revolutionary art thrived in Mexico City in the 1920s. She was Frida Kahlo’s lover and posed for Diego Rivera’s murals. After seven years of photography, she abandoned her art to join the anti-fascist cause in Europe. Raised in a working-class family, Tina’s legacy is one of dedication to justice and equality and the four hundred photographs she left behind. Carmen is compelled by Tina’s struggle to reconcile her artistic practice and intimate life with her political commitment.
Read more about the work, cast and design team here: https://www.electriccompanytheatre.com/show/modotti/
Date: Thursday, October 19
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Left of Main (211 Keefer St, Vancouver)
Register: https://vlacc.ca/events/noche-de-teatro-a-carmen-aguirre-new-play-sneak-peek/
Short bio
Carmen is an award-winning theatre artist and author, an Electric Company Theatre Core Artist, Artistic Associate of New Play Development at The Stratford Festival, and co-founder of The Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition. She has written and co-written over twenty-five plays, the #1 international bestseller Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (2012 CBC Canada Reads winner) and its bestselling sequel, Mexican Hooker #1 and My Other Roles Since the Revolution. ECT will premiere Fire Never Dies: The Tina Modotti Project in the fall of 2024. This fall, she is directing Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding at her alma mater, Studio 58. Carmen has over eighty film, television, and stage acting credits and twenty theatre directing credits. Carmenaguirre.ca

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In Partnership with The Electric Company Theatre

Remembering the Future: Chile 1973 - 2023 An Evening of Music, Poetry, and Art
2023-10-15 19:30 - 21:45 | The Orpheum Theatre, 601 Smithie Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 3L4, Canada
Latin Expressions’ spotlight event this year will be a live concert, Remembering the Future: An Evening of Music, Poetry, and Art, featuring local group Sumalao. A 50th-anniversary commemoration of the 1973 Chilean military coup, the concert brings 17 talented performers to the Orpheum stage, celebrating the arrival and impact of Chileans in Canada.
This powerful concert will address the contributions of Chileans to Canadian society and recall how refugees found a safe haven in Canada. Five percent of tickets will be offered free of cost to Indigenous groups and underserved communities.
General admission tickets are on a sliding scale of $20, $25, and $30. Group tickets are available (in limited quantities) in 6-pack at $100 and 10-pack at $150.
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Date: Sunday, October 15
Time: 7:30 – 9:45 pm (with intermission)
doors to the lobby open at 6:30pm, theatre doors open at 7pm
Location: The Orpheum | 601 Smithe St, Vancouver
General seating, all-ages concert

Get tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/remembering-the-future-chile-1973-2023-tickets-699289913957?aff=oddtdtcreator

Short Bios from creators:
Carmen Rodríguez
(carmenrodriguez.ca)
Chilean-Canadian bilingual writer, educator, journalist and activist Carmen Rodríguez came to Canada as a refugee following the military coup of 1973 in her native country.
She is the award-winning author of Guerra Prolongada/ Protracted War, a volume of poetry; and a body to remember with, a collection of short stories (finalist, Vancouver Book Awards); De cuerpo entero, its Spanish counterpart (Honorary Mention, Santiago Literary Prizes); Retribution, a novel (second place, Most Popular Novel category, International Latino Book Awards); and most recently, Atacama, a second novel (Honorary Mention of the International Latino Book Awards in the Best Historical Novel category). Rodríguez’s writing has also appeared in periodicals and anthologies, been the subject of myriad reviews and analytical studies, and included in high school and university curricula.
Carmen Rodríguez has taught a range of disciplines in a variety of settings – from literature, languages and cultural studies to creative writing, basic literacy and teaching methodologies in colleges, union halls, shanty towns, schools, universities and First Nations’ communities. As well, she has released numerous research studies and instructional publications in the fields of adult literacy and popular education. Worth mentioning is her Educating for Change: Community-Based/Student-Centred Literacy Programming with First Nations Adults, a handbook and documentary video for instructors of aboriginal literacy, which has been used extensively across Canada.
Her career as a journalist includes working as correspondent for Radio Canada International for twenty-two years and being part of a collective that created and published Aquelarre, a Latin American women’s bilingual magazine.
Rodríguez has served on the Writers’ Union of Canada’s National Council (an elected position), and as juror for The Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, the CBC’s short story competition and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. In 2019, the Canadian Association of Spanish Language Scholars and Creators dedicated its annual Homage and Exhibition to her work and in 2020 she was nominated for a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in the Arts, Culture and Design category. In 2021, the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre inducted her as the organization’s inaugural “Honorary Elder.”
In addition to her professional work as a writer, educator and journalist, Carmen Rodríguez has been a music aficionado for most of her life. As a child and a young woman, she studied piano, musical theory and composition at Chile’s Music Conservatory and as an adult she has sung, played guitar, charango and small percussion instruments with musical ensembles in both Chile and Canada. Noteworthy is her participation in Cormorán and Resistencia, the first two ensembles that introduced the Chilean and Latin American New Song to Vancouver, Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Currently, she is a member of Canto Vivo, VLACC’s choir.

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Hugo Guzmán and Sumalao
Chilean-Canadian composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, director and music producer
Hugo Guzmán came to Canada in 1987. In his native Chile he led award-winning musical groups such as Marea Alta and Sumalao, a band that between 1979 and 1985 performed Guzmán’s original compositions as well as iconic pieces from the New Song Movement, which had been banned by the dictatorship. Often these presentations were in support of political prisoners and human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International.
He left Chile in 1986 and for one year lived in Mexico City, where he led the Camilo
Torres Ensemble. This group performed in myriad venues, including the prestigious Annual
Folkloric Convention at Chapultepec Park.
Shortly after settling in Vancouver, Hugo Guzmán became a well-known musician in the Latin Community performing at numerous venues including the most prestigious festivals in BC. In late 1991, Guzmán created a Canadian version of the original Chilean ensemble Sumalao, with the purpose of developing a new sound inspired by Latin American rhythms, but also incorporating elements of jazz and African music. Sumalao is a Quechua word that means “beautiful place,” which he envisioned as a musical coming together of diverse beats and melodies.
Sumalao has recorded two albums: Encuentros (Encounters) and Fiesta de la luna (The Moon’s Festivity), which was recorded live and released by the CBC. The band has also performed at myriad venues, including the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the Vancouver Jazz and Blues Festival, the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Cultures Canada Festival in Ottawa, the Montreal Jazz Festival, The Northwest Folklife Festival and Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, to name a few. As well, Sumalao was featured regularly on CBC’s Disc Drive Live.
Between 1990 and 1994, Guzmán worked for CBC Radio and Television as programmer,
producer and performer. In that capacity, he arranged and directed Sumalao in the creation of an Andean version of the Disc Drive theme, a daily radio program conducted by Jurgen Gothe. He also conceived and produced a national World Music series called “Out of this World,” which
was hosted by Salvador Ferreras.
Other work includes composing and performing music for the Knowledge Network’s documentary film “Elwy Yost Tribute” and the CBC French Television documentary film “Le Territoire de L’autre – Une Chilienne en Saskatchewan.”

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Mural Walking Tour - Latin American Edition
2023-10-12 16:00 - 17:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
A special mural tour created by the Vancouver Mural Festival. Please join VMF’s Co-founder Adrian Sinclair for an in-person mural tour in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, which now features over 100 murals. The tour starts with a free cup of coffee, and the route is specially designed to highlight murals by artists of Latin American heritage. Hear about the behind-the-scenes stories and the meanings behind the artwork, and learn about the world of mural making.

Date: Thursday, October 12th
Time: 4pm to 5:30pm
Venue: Meeting point Milano Coffee Roasters
(156 W 8th Ave, Vancouver)
Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mural-walking-tour-latin-american-edition-tickets-716400442007?aff=oddtdtcreator

Short Bio – Tour Provider
Adrian Sinclair is a collaborative, curious and committed person with a dash of good humour. He lives in Vancouver, BC, with his wife Brandy. He was born on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe peoples (Winnipeg, Manitoba). His ancestors are Northern Scots and Ukrainian Mennonites. As a co-founder of VMF and as the Director of Engagement, he develops strategy, funding, and teams to create and grow new forms of public programming and public art installation.
He aims to help build a more equitable, joyful, and inclusive city by weaving artistic expression, community empowerment, criticality and celebration into everything he does. Since co-founding VMF in 2016, he has built partnerships and programming with Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture, Hogan’s Alley Society, Indian Summer Festival, Overdose Prevention Society, Emily Carr University, Museum of Anthropology, səlilwətaɬ, and others. Adrian has a master’s degree in Philosophy, specializing in queer theory, digital embodiment, and phenomenology. He loves mobile saunas, music, and gong fu cha.

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In partnership with the Vancouver Mural Festival

Chile, Obstinate Memory screening and Q&A
2023-10-11 18:30 - 20:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
To mark the sombre 50th anniversary of Salvador Allende’s overthrow, join us at a screening of Chile, Obstinate Memory by Patricio Guzmán, truly a living legend of documentary cinema. One of the best docs ever produced by the NFB, Chile, Obstinate Memory revisits the country’s coup d’état through Guzmán’s eyes, as the director returns to his motherland for the first time after 23 years of exile.
This screening will have open remarks and a Q&A session moderated by Camilo Martín-Flórez, Collection Curator at the National Film Board of Canada.

Date: Wednesday, October 11 –
Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: SFU Vancouver Campus – 1415 Cominco Policy Room
515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/chile-obstinate-memory-screening-and-qa-tickets-727083685877?aff=oddtdtcreator

Short Bio
Camilo Martín-Flórez has devoted his entire career to studying and promoting other cinemas from the Americas (Canadian, Women, Indigenous, Afro-Descendant, Asian American, etc.), as well as–and especially–from Latin America and the Caribbean. He holds a Ph.D. in Film Studies from the University of Bologna (Italy). As the National Film Board of Canada’s Collection Curator, he is responsible for film programming on nfb.ca and for writing about films, filmmakers, and the history of the NFB.

Chile, Obstinate Memory
Patricio Guzmán
1997 | 58 min
In Spanish with English subtitles
In this feature documentary, a Chilean filmmaker returns to the motherland for the first time in 23 years. Time is passing. A generation of young Chileans has grown up with no knowledge of the facts surrounding the military coup of September 11, 1973. In his suitcase, The Battle of Chile his 3-part cinéma vérité chronicle of the political tensions in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counterrevolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. His documentary toured the world but was never seen in Chile. Discreetly, he shows it to his friends and a small group of students. After the screening, the young people are in a state of shock. They have an urgent need to know the truth, for it is they who must build the Chile of tomorrow.

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In partnership with the National Film Board

The Settlers (Los Colonos): Film Screening
2023-10-08 13:30 - 15:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
On the year we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Chilean military coup, we joined VIFF to bring you a recent Chilean movie, The Settlers (los Colonos).
In 1893, Segundo, a Chilean mestizo; MacLennan, an English army captain; and Bill, an American mercenary, embark on an expedition on horseback to delimit and reclaim the lands that the State has granted to José Menéndez. What appears to be an administrative expedition turns into a violent hunt for Onas, the natives of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.

Link to purchase tickets: https://viff.org/whats-on/viff23-the-settlers/
Date: Sunday, October 8
Time: 1:30pm
Location: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver

About the director
Felipe Gálvez (b. 1983) is a Chilean filmmaker, writer and editor based in Paris. The Settlers is his first feature as director.

In partnership with VIFF

Sensorial Visualities: embodying together and alone with Guadalupe Martinez
2023-10-05 13:00 - 16:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Guadalupe Martinez’s workshop will share tools from her newest work Sensorial Visualities: embodying together, and alone; a process of learning and making art that stems in sensorial awareness and inquiry. In part, Sensorial Visualities emerges as a desire to articulate the sensorial lived experience made palpable through movement, collaboration, and through writing.
The workshop will consist of exercises that foster attunement with the internal and external landscape and explore ways of creating a kind of sensorial aesthetic that is unique to each body and experience, individual and collective.
* For dance and visual artists, including emerging artists and those in post-secondary (or equivalent) training. Also, it is open to professionals or students interested in the fields of somatics and education. Wear comfortable clothing.
** Bring a quote/phrase/paragraph from a text or book that speaks to your present feeling, desire, interest, or curiosity.
***Please mention any accessibility needs on registration.
Date: Thursday, October 5
Time: 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Venue: Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St. Vancouver
Register: https://thedancecentre.ca/event/workshop-with-guadalupe-martinez/
Short Bio
Guadalupe Martinez (Argentina, 1980) is an artist and educator making works that reflect on art, pedagogy, and place with the hope of creating spaces of connection, care, discovery, and world-making.
Her ongoing project CUERPO collective-body functions as a site and methodology to explore embodied research and somatic activism. A fluid group of emerging artists and mentors sharing knowledge, movement, and touch. A practice where embodied learning transforms conventional approaches to art production and education. A holistic process of liberating the body and the self, to occupy the often-disembodied spaces of academia and art institutions; allowing for a more expansive space to integrate and share knowledge. A search for a praxis where intimacy, embodiment and care may intersect through creative process.
Her work has been shown extensively in Argentina, US, Italy, Mexico and Canada at The Vancouver Art Gallery, SFU Art Gallery, Or Gallery, Access Gallery, VIVO Media Arts, Griffin Art Projects, Latitude 53, Grunt Gallery, VIVA! Art Action, LIVE! Biennale, Open Space Victoria, CIA (Centro de Investigaciones Artisticas), Palais de Glace, Museo del Grabado, Centro Cultural San Martin, Centro Cultural Borges, and Infr’Action Venezia among others.
http://www.guadalupemartinez.com
https://www.reflectionsonawindowglass.com

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Co-presented with The Dance Centre

Boiling bodies: street carnival dances from the northeast of Brazil
2023-10-04 16:00 - 18:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Join Brazilian dance artist Luciana Freire D’Anunciação for an intro class into a few Brazilian dances from the northeast region: frevo, côco, and ciranda. With a somatic approach, we will play with various steps, improvisation scores and short choreographies for a taste of street carnival parties outside of Rio’s circuit. This is an all-levels workshop.
Date: Wednesday, October 4
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Venue: Dance Centre (677 Davie St. Vancouver)
Sliding-scale pricing
Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/boiling-bodies-street-carnival-dances-from-the-northeast-of-brazil-tickets-709656651147

Short Bio
Luciana Freire D’Anunciação (she/her) is a dance artist and choreographer whose works has been exhibited/performed in institutions internationally such as PushOFF Festival 2023, Dance Victoria’s “Dancing Days” 2023, Vancouver Fringe Festival (2015), Performance Biennale Deformes (Santiago, Chile – 2014), European Performance Art Festival (Poland – 2011). She has also danced for other choreographer’s works, such as Emmalena Fredriksson and Arash Khakpour “You Touch Me” (The Dance Centre, 2022), Kelly McInnes’s “SHINY”; at the Vancouver International Dance Festival 2019;
Her works consider the body as an instrument of creative expression in connection with the other and with the world in a poetic and political way. She is interested in the dynamic between spectacle and ritual, rational and intuitive, individual and collective. She holds a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Arts from Simon Fraser University and has a background in somatic dance practices, contact improvisation, improvisation in dance, butoh, dances from the African diaspora, physical theatre and clown.

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In partnership with The Dance Centre

Beyond Dance: A Movement Workshop with Carla Alcántara
2023-10-02 16:00 - 18:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
This warm and energetic workshop is designed to offer self-reflection, discovery, and an inspiring human connection experience. We will warm up our bodies from the inside out with exciting Latin music and play with movement dynamics that will create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone to enjoy and dance. This workshop will honour our Latin roots through deep connections, movement research, and music. All bodies, ethnicities, levels, and genders are welcome. Come and dance with us to celebrate our Latinx expressions!
Date: Monday, October 2
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Venue: The Dance Centre (677 Davie St. Vancouver)
Sliding-scale pricing
Register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-movement-workshop-with-carla-alcantara-tickets-708875875827
Short Bio
Carla Alcántara is a Mexican multidisciplinary artist, emerging choreographer, photographer, videographer, and educator. Born and raised in Mexico City and moved to the unceded traditional territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations or so-called Vancouver in 2021. Director of TEMPO Dance & Visual Art, a project-based company that collaborates with different artists, mixing contemporary dance and visual art to create meaningful yet accessible art to express, communicate and connect with people.
Carla has trained with numerous teachers and choreographers worldwide in techniques like contemporary dance, Jazz, ballet, hip-hop, tap, theatre, and acting. She has gratefully performed and participated in creative processes of artists, choreographers, and companies, including “Lux Boreal” (Tijuana, Mexico) with whom she collaborated as a resident dancer and photographer for three years, “8 Proyecto GATO” (Mexico City), “ARCOS Dance (Austin, TX), “Nohbords” (Mexico City), “La Silla Danza” (Tijuana, Mexico), Charlotte Boye-Christensen (Vancouver, Canada), VLACC (Vancouver, Canada), and in festivals like “Spring Works” (Ontario, Canada) “All over the Map” (Vancouver, Canada) “Without Walls” (San Diego, Ca), 12 Min Max (Vancouver, Canada), SIBU International Dance Festival (Malaysia), “Cuerpo al Descubierto” (Mexico City), “Trolley Dances”/ San Diego Dance Theatre, “Cuerpos en Tránsito” (Tijuana), among others.
Carla has taught dance to all ages in private schools, community centres, and art facilities in Mexico, Canada, and the USA for over eight years, with a passion for guiding students through technique yet imaginative and creative pathways to develop their artistic selves. Nowadays, she is grateful to be part of the board of the “Training Society of Vancouver” and teach modern dance at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts while developing her own artistic speech through choreography and visual art projects.
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In partnership with The Dance Centre

Folil Trafün (Joining Roots) Festival - Connecting Through Indigenous Films from Latin America
2023-09-28 14:00 - 20:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Folil trafün (Joining roots) is a showcase of Indigenous and Afro-diaspora films from Latin America (with English subtitles), followed by dialogues to deepen understanding of the films and their relationship with local realities. We will also provide culturally relevant food, from the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nation to share. The showcase will launch with two-hybrid (online and in-person) screenings at the UBC Campus.
This event is part of VLACC’s Indigenous Experiences in the Americas series.
Date(s): September 15, 22, 26 & 28, 2023
Venues: different locations
Following these events, we’ll host a two-day event (in person) with multiple films and discussions each day, at St. John’s College and UBC Robson Square Theatre.
The films and subsequent conversations will be framed on themes like Indigenous and Afro-descent identities, migration, Mother Nature, and complex relationships between industry and Indigenous communities. Special attention will be given to how communities work towards territorial sovereignty.
The project brings together three main partners: Ficwallmapu, an Indigenous and Latinx collective that puts on a yearly film festival and various smaller film events in the Wallmapu; the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) team from the Faculty of Forestry at UBC, a leading forestry school globally and VLACC.
We have been able to host these events and collaborations thanks to the financial and in-kind support of the Faculties of Land and Food Systems, Science, and Applied Sciences, UBC Connects, St. John’s College, Partnership Recognition and Exploration Fund (PREF), the Global Lounge Fund, the Inspiring Community Fund (Utown), and the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC). VLACC’s participation is supported by the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia.
For more information and the complete schedule, please visit: https://forestry.ubc.ca/events/folil-trafun-joining-roots-festival/

Event #1 – FOLIL TRAFÜN LUNCH SHOWCASE – SEPT 15
Date: September 15th, 2023 | 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Where: The Centre for Advanced Wood Processing Case Room – 2916 | Forest Sciences Centre | 2424 Main Mall
Register: https://forestry.ubc.ca/folil-trafun-lunch-showcase-sept-15/
Event #2: – FOLIL TRAFÜN LUNCH SHOWCASE – SEPT 22
Date: September 22nd, 2023 | 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Where: The Centre for Advanced Wood Processing Case Room – 2916 | Forest Sciences Centre | 2424 Main Mall
Register: https://forestry.ubc.ca/folil-trafun-lunch-showcase-sept-22/
Event #3 – FOLIL TRAFÜN INGRAM DINNER – SEPT 26
Date: September 26th, 2023 | 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Where: St. John’s College UBC:- 2111 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC
Register: https://forestry.ubc.ca/folil-trafun-ingram-dinner-sept-26/
Event #4 – FOLIL TRAFÜN MAIN SHOWCASE – SEPT 28
Date: September 28th, 2023 | 2:00 – 8:00 PM
Where: UBC Robson Square Theatre – 800 Robson St, Vancouver, BC
Register: https://forestry.ubc.ca/folil-trafun-main-showcase-sept-28/

Art and Identity in Transit: a conversation between Faune Ybarra and Josema Zamorano
2023-09-23 11:00 - 12:30 | SFU Downtown Campus Policy Room 515 West Hastings Street Policy Room Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, 515 West Hastings Street Policy Room, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Misplacement, impermanence, a constant need for intercultural dialogue, and a longing for belonging. These are some conditions immigrating artists experience while in transit in so-called “Canada”. Join interdisciplinary artists Faune Ybarra and Josema Zamorano in a conversation about how their work is informed by an identity that never seems to settle. Talk moderated by Miret Rodríguez.
This event is free but registration is required. Please use the following link to save your spot:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/art-and-identity-in-transit-a-conversation-between-faune-ybarra-and-josema-tickets-721735027897
Date: Saturday, September 23
Time: 11:00 – 12:30 pm
Venue: SFU Vancouver Campus, HC 2270 Sauder Industries Policy Room – 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
In Partnership with the Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver and with the support of Simon Fraser University.
Short Bios
Faune Ybarra (She/They)
Currently situated in the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tseil-Waututh nations, Faune Ybarra is a diasporic artist/art worker, researcher and educator from Oaxaca and Mexico City. Current repositories of their work take the shape of “diasporic gestures”, weaving practices, and arts programming for BIPOC Emerging Artists. Ybarra has developed, performed, exhibited, and spoken about her work across so-called Canada including Eastern Edge Gallery (St. John’s), Capture Photo Fest (Vancouver), The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (St. John’s), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver) and Diasporic Futurisms (Toronto).
IG: @faunestanaccount | Website: https://www.faune-ybarra.online/
Josema Zamorano is an Interdisciplinary visual artist and educator, native of Nayarit Mexico. He is interested in a critique of the modern ways of seeing and constructing reality: the camera, the image, the detached observer of the world, the method, the concretion of languages. His practice often leans to experimental-performative processes of making and interactive reception. He explores how the movement of eyes, body, and comprehension, in a changing world, transform and connect appearances and meanings. At university he develops with students a critique of the self-attributed western primacy of propositional languages and pre-figured methods over ancestral or current praxis-based/art-based/land-based relational ways of know-ing and be-ing in the world.
Zamorano worked as a telecommunications engineer before making a turn to the arts. He had an early love for magic which later developed in studies on the science of invisible-electromagnetic signals and waves. Poetry spoiled his promising engineering carrier and he came back to university to study existential philosophy, poetry, the stories of ancestral Mesoamerican culture, and visual arts. The most transformational part of his education has been passing through Mexico’s National University (UNAM) while re-doing undergraduate and M.A. studies at the time of widespread university activism in support of the Maya-Zapatista-movement calls for national Indigenous rights in Mexico. At UNAM he was a student of the renown proponent of poetry as knowledge, poet and philosopher Ramon Xirau, and the mystic poet Elsa Cross. He has also earned an MSc on satellite communications at University of Surrey (UK) and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (University of British Columbia). For over twenty years he has taught a variety of topics, from electrical-circuits design and philosophy of technology, to critical inquiry, art-based research, interdisciplinary studies, photography, and Spanish. He is currently a faculty at Capilano University.
Facilitated by Miret Rodriguez
Miret Rodriguez is the creative director of Curated Tastes and is the former VP of VLACC. She holds a MBA in art and culture management from the Superior School of Commerce in Paris and a BA Major in Art History from UBC. Miret relies on art and the artists that make it to navigate through cultural dislocation and hybridity. Since 2020 Miret has been interviewing Latinx artists in Canada about their immigration stories and their ways of expressing their experiences through art. This led her into curating Volver (to return, to become) in 2022 at Cityscape Community Artspace in North Vancouver.

In Partnership with the Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver and with the support of Simon Fraser University.

Navegando los cambios como una Nube
2023-08-26 11:30 - 12:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Free Event in Spanish for kids and families
“The Adventures of Nubit” is a short illustrated story about a brave cloud on an auto-discovery journey. Follow Nubit’s adventures at a storytelling event by its author, Emilia Rojas, on Saturday, August 26, at 11:30 am at Victoria Park.
The book’s presentation will be followed by craft activities for kids and an introduction to tapping facilitated by Valentina, a mind-body practitioner and Montessori assistant teacher.
–Spanish
“Las aventuras de Nubit” / “The adventures of Nubit” es una breve y profunda historia hecha de ilustraciones. La historia trata sobre unx valiente nube que emprende la aventura del autoconocimiento. Acompáñanos en cada paso de su transformativo viaje a través de una particular lectura del libro realizada por su autora, Emilia Rojas el sábado, 26 de Agosto a las 11:30 am en el parque de Victoria (1425 Victoria St.)
Además de la presentación oficial del libro, tendremos actividades manuales y un acercamiento al tapping facilitado por Valentina, mind-body practitioner y asistente Montessori.
Muchas veces como adultxs no sabemos cómo navegar los cambios que la vida nos presenta ¡Imagínate en la infancia! “Las aventuras de Nubit” / “The adventures of Nubit” (libro de ilustraciones en Inglés y español) es una invitación a mantener la calma y buscar ayuda de la naturaleza cuando nos suceden cosas que no entendemos o no sabemos cómo enfrentar.
Día: Sábado, 26 de Agosto
Hora: 11:30 – 12:30 pm
Lugar: Victoria Park (1425 Victoria St.)
Este es un evento gratuito pero es necesario registrarse en el siguiente enlace: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/navegando-los-cambios-como-una-nube-tickets-700415851667?aff=oddtdtcreator
Register
Sobre las facilitadoras:
Emilia Rojas es una artista multidisciplinaria de origen andino y Educadora artística de primera infancia. Uno de sus escritos está publicado en México en la antología Palabras Malditas (Efímera, 2008). En Uruguay publicó Sangre de Pez (Hoderstorm, 2016), una colección de poemas, prosa y arte visual. Emilia vive actualmente en Vancouver, British Columbia con su perrita Humita.
Si quieres conocer más sobre su trabajo, visita: multidisciplinaria.tumblr.com ó @wero.mcgregor
Valentina Iturraspe está certificada como Mind-Body Practitioner, Asistente Montessori y acompañante en Bioneuroemoción. Su enfoque, inspirado en el Curso de Milagros, abre puertas al cambio de mentalidad. Su objetivo es claro: fomentar un cambio de percepción eligiendo el amor.
Durante la actividad habrá libros disponibles para adquirir utilizando pago a través de efectivo y transferencia electrónica a hellonubit@gmail.com
Libro con cubierta dura: $30 CAD
Libro con cubierta blanda: $20 CAD
Register

Verano de Colores II [IN SPANISH]
2023-08-19 11:30 - 12:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
[This program will be offered in Spanish]
Después del éxito del pasado Verano de colores, nos complace poder ofrecer el segundo evento de la temporada.
Acompáñanos el 19 de Agosto en el Victoria Park (1425 Victoria Dr., Vancouver) de 11:00 am – 12:30 pm para continuar celebrando el español.
Ana Lorena Pérez (Ecuador) y Maria Helena Morales (Colombia), junto a la invitada Rocío Quevedo (México) estarán facilitando juegos tradicionales, manualidades, actividades con títeres, y movimiento. Todo esto acompañado de música infantil de Latinoamérica.
Este programa es un espacio para que las familias conecten con lo más genuino de nuestra cultura.
Al final del evento, se entregarán bolsitas con bocadillos de Latinoamérica que se pueden encontrar en las tiendas locales.
Este programa es gratuito, pero es necesario registrarse en el siguiente enlace:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/verano-de-colores-ii-in-spanish-tickets-679564956077?aff=oddtdtcreator

Date: Saturday, August 19
Time: 11:00 – 12:30 pm
Place: Victoria Park (1425 Victoria St.)

*****
Join us on Saturday, August 19, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm at Victoria Park (1425 Victoria Dr., Vancouver) to celebrate Spanish lenguage.
Ana Lorena Pérez (Ecuador) y Maria Helena Morales (Colombia), along with their special guest, Rocío Quevedo (México), will be facilitating a series of traditional games, handcrafts, a puppet show and movement activities. These activities will include traditional Latin American music for kids.
By the end of the event, we will be offering a little bag with some small Latin American traditional appetizers that can be found in local stores.
This is a free event, but to join us it is necessary to register in the following link:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/verano-de-colores-ii-in-spanish-tickets-679564956077?aff=oddtdtcreator

Facilitators:

Ana Lorena Pérez was born in Ecuador and moved to Canada in 2014. She has a Psychology and Family Therapy academic background. During her university years, she was a children’s entertainer independent worker but then, her professional experience was concentrated in the educational youth counseling field. Since she came to Canada, she has been leading some parent and children programs in Spanish language. In 2020, she started working in different family programs in a non-profit organization both in English and Spanish.

María Helena Morales is from Bogotá, Colombia. It has been her passion to work with children and make them enjoy the wonders of life. Her educational background is in Early Childhood Education, Psychology and Educational Psychology. Her work experience has been mainly teaching the little ones and working with family programs. One of her primary goals is to ensure that the Latin American roots are kept alive for the children of our community and promote our Latin American culture with other communities.

Special guest: Rocio Quevedo was born in a little desert town in Mexico, where black widows, scorpions, and little lizards were the entertainment in the backyard. Although she has been living in Canada for more than a decade, she still misses the desert sun. After getting married and moving from Vancouver to Toronto, Toronto to Calgary, Calgary to Winnipeg, Winnipeg to Vancouver, her mom is right by saying, “Mija, you are at the right place, with the right people”. As a lover of nature and a former ESL teacher with a bachelor in arts in English language teaching, majored in bilingual education, she is passionate to learn more about culture, languages, and everything that connects us and makes us human, specially dance. This passion has walked her through many different paths in life, among them dance instructor and performer, cook and server, co-owner of distribution house, educational assistant and currently Family Programmer and Volunteer Coordinator in a non-profit organization. She is a mother of a very fun, 6-year-old, little scientist, wife of her best friend, and furry mama of a 13-year-old maltipoo named Cheeks.

Throughout the Summer, we will offer different events, concerts, camps, tertulias and many other activities. Check out our calendar and stay up to date with all the summer programming happening in 2023.

–

Descarga musical with Flor Curcio
2023-07-28 18:30 - 20:00 | The Greenhouse Studio, 1885 Venables St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5L 2H6, Canada
Join us on Friday, July 28, at 6:30 pm at the Green House Studio to enjoy a Descarga Musical with Flor Curcio.
Curcio is an Argentinian composer, singer, musicology and producer visiting Vancouver.
Discover Flor’s compositions in a casual and intimate environment. Her music is built on Argentine folkloric roots and proposes a journey through poetry and music.
You’ll be invited to participate in a round of collective singing where we can reconnect and explore our voices to meet others and sing together.

Date: Friday, July 28
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Venue: Green House Studio (1885 Venables St, Vancouver)

About Flor Curcio
Curcio is a composer, singer, producer, teacher, and music therapist born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 2013 she has performed as a soloist and has taken her music to different parts of the country, Latin America, North America, and Europe.
She released her new single, Irrefrenable Movimiento, in December 2022, the beginning of her second piece.
In 2018, she released her first solo album, Mi Respuesta, which she continues to present, along with new songs and Argentinian folklore repertoire.
She is touring North America, performing in a solo set format (guitar and voice), and arriving in Vancouver after several concerts in New York.
She will participate in the World Music Therapy Congress in Vancouver, exposing her work.
You can listen to Flor music on Spotify at the following link:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5C8PFbMZt0bCYSK0VWI6wh

This is a FREE event, but registration is required:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/descarga-musical-with-flor-curcio-tickets-679715085117?aff=oddtdtcreator

Throughout the Summer, we will offer different events, concerts, camps, tertulias and many other activities. Check out our calendar and stay up to date with all the summer programming happening in 2023.

Lugares de Pertenencia
2023-07-20 17:30 - 19:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
La Libelula Cooperative is pleased to share the upcoming workshop “Places of Belonging” co-facilitated by Carolina Aguirre and Fiorella Pinillos.
Places of Belonging is a series of free community engaged art workshops for newcomer Latin American youth aged 13 – 18. In these workshops we will explore our places of connection and refuge in the City of Vancouver through art.
These workshops will be facilitated in Spanish.
Dates: July 13, 20, 25, and August 3
Time: 5:30 – 7:30pm
Venue: The Greenhouse Studio (1885 Venables St, Vancouver)

Registrations are closed.

Throughout the Summer, we will offer different events, concerts, camps, tertulias and many other activities. Check out our calendar and stay up to date with all the summer programming happening in 2023.

Verano de colores [IN SPANISH]
2023-07-15 11:00 - 12:30 | Victoria Park, 1425 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC
[This program will be offered in Spanish]
Verano de colores is back on its third edition!
Join us on Saturday, July 15, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm at Victoria Park (1425 Victoria Dr., Vancouver) for this program to create a space for Latin American families to connect with their roots and culture.
Ana Lorena Pérez (Ecuador) y Maria Helena Morales (Colombia), along with their special guest, Rocío Quevedo (México), will be facilitating a series of traditional games, handcrafts, a puppet show and movement activities. These activities will include traditional Latin American music for kids.
By the end of the event, we will be offering a little bag with some small Latin American traditional appetizers that can be found in local stores.
We will have a second edition of Verano de Colores on August 19. We will keep you posted once we open registrations.
This is a free event, but to join us on July 15, it is necessary to register at the following link:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/verano-de-colores-in-spanish-tickets-671627384587?aff=oddtdtcreator
***
Verano de colores regresa este verano en su tercera edición!
Acompáñanos en este programa que se realizará el sábado 15 de Julio en el Victoria Park (1425 Victoria Dr., Vancouver) de 11:00 am – 12:30 pm.
Este programa es un espacio para que las familias conecten con lo más genuino de nuestra cultura.
Ana Lorena Pérez (Ecuador) y Maria Helena Morales (Colombia), junto a la invitada Rocío Quevedo (México) estarán facilitando juegos tradicionales, manualidades, actividades con títeres, y movimiento. Todo esto acompañado de música infantil de Latinoamérica.
Al final del evento, se entregarán bolsitas con bocadillos de Latinoamérica que se pueden encontrar en las tiendas locales.
Tendremos una segunda edición de este mismo programa el 19 de Agosto.
Este programa es gratuito, pero para asistir a la primera de nuestras fechas, el15 de Julio, es necesario inscribirse en el siguiente link:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/verano-de-colores-in-spanish-tickets-671627384587?aff=oddtdtcreator
Facilitators:
Ana Lorena Pérez was born in Ecuador and moved to Canada in 2014. She has a Psychology and Family Therapy academic background. During her university years, she was a children’s entertainer independent worker but then, her professional experience was concentrated in the educational youth counseling field. Since she came to Canada, she has been leading some parent and children programs in Spanish language. In 2020, she started working in different family programs in a non-profit organization both in English and Spanish.
María Helena Morales is from Bogotá, Colombia. It has been her passion to work with children and make them enjoy the wonders of life. Her educational background is in Early Childhood Education, Psychology and Educational Psychology. Her work experience has been mainly teaching the little ones and working with family programs. One of her primary goals is to ensure that the Latin American roots are kept alive for the children of our community and promote our Latin American culture with other communities.
Special guest: Rocio Quevedo was born in a little desert town in Mexico, where black widows, scorpions, and little lizards were the entertainment in the backyard. Although she has been living in Canada for more than a decade, she still misses the desert sun. After getting married and moving from Vancouver to Toronto, Toronto to Calgary, Calgary to Winnipeg, Winnipeg to Vancouver, her mom is right by saying, “Mija, you are at the right place, with the right people”. As a lover of nature and a former ESL teacher with a bachelor in arts in English language teaching, majored in bilingual education, she is passionate to learn more about culture, languages, and everything that connects us and makes us human, specially dance. This passion has walked her through many different paths in life, among them dance instructor and performer, cook and server, co-owner of distribution house, educational assistant and currently Family Programmer and Volunteer Coordinator in a non-profit organization. She is a mother of a very fun, 6-year-old, little scientist, wife of her best friend, and furry mama of a 13-year-old maltipoo named Cheeks.
Throughout the Summer, we will offer different events, concerts, camps, tertulias and many other activities. Check out our calendar and stay up to date with all the summer programming happening in 2023.
Register

Summer Camp - Explore Latin American Culture - CANCELLED
2023-07-10 09:00 - 15:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Britannia is excited to include a Latin American inspired Summer Camp in partnership with Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre and Words in Motion. Explorations in music, language, arts & crafts, dance, and food. There will be time for outdoor fun and making friends.
Please pack a lunch, nut free snacks, and water bottle. Dress for the weather with hat and sunscreen.
Link to register: https://anc.ca.apm.activecommunities.com/vancouver/activity/search/detail/456047?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true
Code: #458969
Dates: July 10 – 14
Time: 9:30 – 3:30 pm
Location: Britannia Community Centre (Rink Activity Room)
Age at least 6 years but less than 9 years, Mixed.
Fee: $ 240

In partnership with:

Screen Printing - Paper Printmaking Series with Yaimel López
2023-07-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Join Vancouver-based Cuban artist Yaimel Lopez for this exciting introductory screen printing program. Students will learn to make stencils and use them to create compositions and typography. They will continue on their skills over the weeks to create posters, and prints. Yaimel also likes to show how these illustrations can be made into animations and he shares his teachings throughout the weeks. Materials cost included in the fees.
Link to register: https://anc.ca.apm.activecommunities.com/vancouver/activity/search/detail/449122?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true
When: Every Saturday from July 8 to August 26, 2023 (8 sessions)
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Where: Rink Mezzanine Room – Britannia Community Services Centre
Fee: $231
For 12-year-olds and up
No drop-in available.

Short Bio Yaimel Lopez
Cuban artist based in Vancouver, where he works as an artist and graphic designer. With more than ten years of experience, his work has been published in magazines and books. His professional projection also includes animation, illustration, editorial design and branding. His work has been exhibited in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Cuba as part of collective and individual exhibits.

Since 2019 when He moves to Canada, Yaimel has been collaborating as an artist with several Vancouver organizations, such as Vancouver Foundation, Vancouver Latin-American Cultural Centre (VLACC), and Vancouver Latin-American Film Festival (VLAFF).
He recently hosted the exhibition Café Volumen 1 at the BAG

Register

In partnership with:

FESTA PLURAL: Brazilian Edition featuring amarElas and DJ André Brasil
2023-06-24 19:00 - 22:00 | St. James Community Square, 3214 W 10th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Join us Saturday, June 24th, when VLACC will launch FESTA PLURAL, an inclusive music and poetry event. This first edition will highlight Brazil’s music and spoken-word performance with amarElas, a female singers’ band. Some special poetry reading and two sets from DJ André Brasil will make this an uplifting evening for all. Local Brazilian poet Luciana Freire D’Anunciação will join the band on stage to perform a couple of her poems:
The venue is St James Community Square in Kitsilano, a former church with beautifully wood-panelled space that makes for wonderful acoustics and a warmly welcoming atmosphere. Cash bar available.
FESTA PLURAL: Brazilian Edition will be a 3-hour event kicking off the summer with contagious Brazilian music, starting slow and easy, but building to a summer-samba pitch.
Formed just last year, amarElas is a band led by female singers that have already made a big splash performing in and around Vancouver. These four superb singers present a diverse repertoire of Brazilian and other international songs, original and covers, exploring feminism, immigration, and identity themes with verve and vivacious wit. This event will be an opportunity to present songs made by women, for them, famous for their voices, and also pay tribute to one of the most important singers and songwriters of Brazil – Rita Lee.

About Luciana Freire D’Anunciação:
Luciana Freire D’Anunciação is a Brazilian artist who has worked and lived between Brazil and Canada for the past 14 years. She is a performance artist who develops interdisciplinary projects with dance, theatre, video, photography, installation, sound and text, which have been presented in venues, dance, theatre and films festivals in many countries across the Americas and Europe. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Simon Fraser University and is in continuous training in many dance practices; she teaches dance/performance classes and workshops as community engagement.

When: Saturday, June 24, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm
Where: St James Community Square in Kitsilano – 3214 10th Ave W, Vancouver BC V6K 2L2
Tickets are on a sliding scale of $15 to $25. Please choose the one that fits your budget better.
Feeling generous? Choose option 3!

With the support of:

Latin American Short Stories Reading Group – June 2023
2023-06-13 18:30 - 20:00 | Britannia Community Centre – Conference Room, 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
VLACC is pleased to present, in partnership with Britannia Community Services Centre, a reading group open to anyone interested in short stories written by Latin American authors.
Join us on Tuesday, June 13th at 6:30 pm, at the Conference Room (1661 Napier St, Vancouver) for a discussion on the stories “Emma Zunz”, by Jorge Luis Borges and “Vast Hell”, by Guillermo Martínez
María Teresa Venditti will lead the discussion. She is a highly experienced language professional with a career spanning over three decades (see more below).
The stories are in English translations. Discussions will also be led in English. No background in Latin American literature or culture is required.
Please click on the following link to access the stories:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1qjbhVslsPYusg9QmR6zmDYuQ9dmH89ji
This is a FREE event, but registration is required. Register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/638355698077
Date: Tuesday, June 13th
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Place: Conference Room (Britannia Community Services Centre) – entrance through the Info Centre
1661 Napier St, Vancouver, BC V5L 4X4
About the facilitator:
María Teresa Venditti began her teaching career in 1987 in Tucumán, Argentina, before going on to teach at various institutions across Argentina, the UK, and Spain. From 2009 to 2012, she was a professor of Lengua II at the University of El Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she taught in the Philosophy and Literature Department at the School of Modern Languages. She also taught Modern Languages at the St. Martin in the Fields High School in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during this period.

In 2012, María Teresa Teresa moved to Los Angeles, California, where she worked as a Development Assistant at Exceptional Minds Studio until 2018.
María Teresa holds a bachelor’s degree in English Philology from the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain, where she specialized in English literature. She also has several qualifications in language teaching and translation, including LCCI Cert TEB, CTEFLA, and CEELT. Additionally, María Teresa is an English/Spanish technical, scientific, and literary translator and interpreter.

This event counts on the generous support of:

Re:Location Free Online Premiere Episode 5 – Rosario Ancer
2023-05-17 18:30 - 19:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Mexican Flamenco dancer, dance coach, artistic director and bailadora, Rosario Ancer found herself a home in Vancouver, where she grew her family, a dance academy, and a well-known international Flamenco Festival creating a lasting flamenco legacy.
Starting in Mexico, going to Spain and landing in Canada, Rosario’s journey began following a call, a need to master flamenco dance. Her passion took her through different places in Spain, where she better understood this dance form and found her beloved: a Canadian musician passionate about flamenco.
After starting a family, they teamed up to grow the flamenco movement in Vancouver and changed the perception of it from a foreign expression to an artwork that anyone can relate to, appreciate or dance.
Join us for the fifth and last documentary premiere of Season 1 of Re:Location on Wednesday, May 17th, at 6:30 pm to get to know Rosario Ancer’s immigration journey to Canada.

When: Wednesday, May 17 at 6:30 pm
Where: www.vlacc.ca/relocation
Free Online Premiere

Join our mailing list to hear about the latest, plus our other great events and activities.
If you liked Re:Location, our documentary series, consider making a donation! The Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre (VLACC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cultural diversity by sharing Latin American culture.

Donate

Re:Location is a project funded by:
Digital Now – a Canada Council for the Arts digital innovation initiative

Latin American Short Stories Reading Group - May
2023-05-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
VLACC is pleased to present, in partnership with UBC’s Latin American Studies program, a reading group open to anyone interested in short stories written by Latin American authors.
Join us on Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30 pm, at the Conference Room (1661 Napier St, Vancouver) for a discussion on the stories “Mambrú Did Not Go to War” by Aida Cavtagena Povtalatin and “Delicatessen” by Miguel Alfonseca.
Professor Ramón Ant. Victoriano-Martínez (Arturo) will lead the discussion. He is an Assistant Professor at the Spanish UBC Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies.
The stories are in English translations. Discussions will also be led in English. No background in Latin American literature or culture is required.
Please click on the following link to access the stories:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cQcFjOOE8FqhtHyUJewNdFp7p6CLfeWO?usp=share_link
This is a FREE event, but registration is required. Register here.
Date: Tuesday, May 9
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Place: Conference Room (Britannia Community Services Centre)
1661 Napier St, Vancouver, BC V5L 4X4
Register
About the facilitator
Ramón Antonio Victoriano-Martinez (Arturo) was born in the Dominican Republic (1969), where he graduated with a B.A. in law at the Universidad Católica Santo Domingo (Class of 1994). He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in the area of Hispanic and Latin American Literature in 2010. After graduation he taught in the Department of Language Studies (University of Toronto Mississauga), the Caribbean Studies Program and the Latin American Studies Program (University of Toronto) from 2011 to 2019. His primary area of research are the literature and cultures of the Hispanic Caribbean with an emphasis on issues of race, gender, diaspora and national belonging.

Register

With the support of:

Kairos Blanket Exercise
2023-04-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
We’re pleased to start our series “Indigenous Experiences in Canada and Latin America – Working Towards Reconciliation” with the event Kairos Blanket Exercise on Saturday, April 22 at 6:00 pm at the Canuck Family Education Centre (1655 William St, Vancouver).
The Kairos Blanket Exercise is based on Indigenous methodologies to build an understanding of our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada – through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance.
Join us and be actively involved as we step onto blankets that represent the land and into the role of First Nations, Inuit and later Métis peoples.
The Blanket Exercise educates and increases empathy by engaging emotionally and intellectually. This event will be delivered in English and is welcome to all levels of abilities.
Date: Saturday, April 22
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Place: Canuck Family Education Centre (1655 William St, Vancouver)
Free event
Register
About the serie:
“Indigenous Experiences in Canada and Latin America – Working Towards Reconciliation” aims to build intercultural interaction, trust and understanding by addressing Latin America’s experience with Indigenous peoples, colonization, diversity and inclusion while gaining a better knowledge of Canada’s path to Reconciliation.
Latin America refers to the parts of South and Central America that were influenced by either Spanish, French or Portuguese heritage through European colonization. Like in Canada, the pursuit of power dehumanized Indigenous peoples and devastated pre-existing societies. Religious traditions drawn from European ideologies largely influenced these cultures and— in some cases— eradicated native practices.
This series will create opportunities for Latin American immigrants and the larger community to interact with and learn from local Indigenous artists, Indigenous Latin American immigrants, racialized storytellers, writers, and community leaders.
Link to register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/kairos-blanket-exercise-tickets-597892341087

About the facilitators:
Hubert Barton
Hubert Barton is a member of the Nisga’a Nation from the community of Gingolx located in the North Coast of British Columbia. He is from the Lax Gibuu clan and is the youngest of 4 brothers and 1 sister. Hubert grew up in his homelands of the Nass Valley and recently moved to the city of Vancouver to study at the Vancouver School of Theology, where he graduated from the Indigenous Studies Program with a Master of Divinity degree.
He now works as Coordinator of the Indigenous Studies Program and also engages in public speaking where he enjoys sharing the parallels he’s found between his Christian Faith and Nisga’a Culture.
In his downtime Hubert enjoys both digital and analog photography with a main focus on landscapes. He recently had the honor of having some of his long-exposure night photography photos on display in a digital art exhibit at the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival.
IG: @hubert_barton

Catalina Parra

Catalina was born in Muisca territories (Bogota-Colombia) and currently lives in Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil -Waututh territories (Vancouver). She attended Simon Fraser University, obtaining her bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies, which later took her to study and work/study in Argentina, Bolivia, Quebec, and Dominica.
Catalina has had the honor to work with First Nations communities, supporting community-based education programs in Vancouver, Hawaii, and Terrace. Currently, she works as Administrative Coordinator for Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Faculty of Medicine at UBC.
As a Latinx immigrant and new Canadian, Catalina is deeply committed to engage in a respectful and honorable intergenerational relationship with the Indigenous Peoples of turtle island.
In 2016 she took the KAIROS blanket exercise training in order to facilitate experiential workshops that invite people to dive into the untold story of Indigenous and Canadian relationships since first contact.
As a descendant of Mestizxs in her native Colombia, she has an intergenerational loyalty to the journey of resistance and de-colonization in Abya-Yala (known today as the Americas).
Register

Sabor Cubano, a movement workshop with Yula
2023-04-22 15:15 - 17:15 | Canucks Family Education Centre, 1655 William St, Vancouver, B.C., V5L 2R3, Canada
Learn the foundations of traditional Cuban dances, Mambo, Cha cha chá, and Conga in this first series of six workshops. Afro-Cuban dancer and instructor Yula Vostretsova, will provide an inclusive and relaxing environment to explore movement while having fun.
Dates: From April 22 to May 27 (six sessions)
Time: 3:15 – 5:15pm
Place: Canuck Family Education Centre – 655 William Street (by Grandview Park)
Fee: $94.50 (include taxes)
Link to register: https://ca.apm.activecommunities.com/vancouver/Activity_Search/440467
Drop in available
Each session will start with a warm-up followed by the dances’ basic steps and simple movement combinations. There will be space at the end of the class to improvise and integrate the learning experience.
Take this opportunity to practice some Spanish words and learn some Cuban slams as you enjoy yourself and connect with a community of great people.
This workshop is open to all levels of abilities, and no previous experience is necessary.
Session 1: Saturday, April 22 at 3:15 pm
Session 2: Saturday, April 29 at 3:15 pm
Session 3: Saturday, April 22 at 3:15 pm
Session 4: Saturday, May 6 at 3:15 pm
Session 5: Saturday, May 13 at 3:15 pm
Session 6: Saturday, May 20 at 3:15 pm
*** All levels welcome ***Drop in available***
Register
About the facilitator
Yula Vostrosova, a recent Vancouver resident, is a Cuban professional dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor. She studied at the prestigious Escuela de Arte de Espectáculos Musicales in Havana, graduating in 2005. Since then, she has performed with various dance companies in the hotel circuit in Havana and Varadero.
She performed as part of the group Samba Fusion in Vancouver for three years. Eventually, she formed her dance ensemble called Elegancia Cubana, where she enjoyed a busy schedule helping to promote Cuban Culture in this city.

Re:Location Free Online Premiere Episode 4 – Carmen Aguirre
2023-04-19 18:30 - 19:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Actor, playwright, and author Carmen Aguirre is a Vancouver-based Chilean-Canadian artist with over eighty film, television, and stage acting credits. While still a student at Studio 58, she wrote her first play, “In a Land Called I Don’t Remember”, which was published l in 2019 by Talonbooks. Since then, she has written and co-written twenty-five plays, including Chile Con Carne, The Refugee Hotel, The Trigger, Blue Box, and adaptations for the stage of Eduardo Galeano’s, Jorge Amado’s, and Julio Cortazar’s work.
Founder of The Latino Theatre Group, co-founder of The Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (CALTAC), and a Core Artist at Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre, Carmen constantly facilitates Theatre of the Oppressed workshops for refugee groups, indigenous communities, and youth groups. In her writing, she often explores exile, loss, alienation, and isolation themes.
Her first book, “Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter”, was published in 2011 in North America, the United Kingdom, Holland, and Finland. The book won the CBC Canada Reads in 2012 and was nominated for national and international awards. Her second memoir, “Mexican Hooker #1 and My Other Roles Since the Revolution”, was published in 2016. It became a Globe and Mail bestseller a week after publication and was named a best book of 2016 by The National Post and CBC.
Join us for our fourth online 10-minute documentary Premiere featuring multiple award-winning Carmen Aguirre’s immigration journey and life as an artist in Canada. Read her blog here.

When: Wednesday, April 19 at 6:30 pm
Where: www.vlacc.ca/relocation
Free Online Premiere

New videos will be released through May 2023.
Join our mailing list to hear about the latest, plus our other great events and activities.
If you liked Re:Location, our documentary series, consider making a donation! The Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre (VLACC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cultural diversity by sharing Latin American culture.

Sounds of Cuba: An Evening of Hot Cuban Music with Miguelito Valdés
2023-04-14 20:00 - 21:30 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Let’s raise the roof of the York Theatre in a program of exciting music from Cuba, with local talent led by Miguelito Valdés, known from Omara Portuondo and Buena Vista Social Club projects.
Expect tunes from all over Cuba, played by a sensational six-piece band, with dance demonstrations by Yula Vostretsova and Ivan Nuñez, making this an authentic and energizing experience.
Join us as Miguelito undertakes a musical journey, including salsa, bolero, danzón, pilón, and other much-loved Cuban rhythms. Heap up the Spring in a joyful mood by attending this unforgettable concert.
Date: Friday, April 14, 2023
Time: 8 pm – Doors at 7 pm
Location: York Theatre – 639 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

We are SOLD OUT! Thank you.

About Miguelito Valdés
Described as one of Cuba’s most highly regarded trumpet players of his generation, Miguelito has become, since making Vancouver his home, very involved in the local music scene. In the short time, he has been on the West Coast of Canada, he has performed with local musicians as Luis Giraldo, Brick House, Kenny Blues, Johnny Ferreira, Zapato Negro, and many others besides his own band “Puro Son”.
His collaboration with other musicians spans groups and artists from all over Canada and abroad, including Omara Portuondo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Herbie Hancock, Wayner Shorter, and many more.

VLACC Choir - Spring Term 2023
2023-03-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
VLACC Choir (singing in Spanish and Portuguese)

Spring Term
Wed, Apr 4 – Wed, June 20, 2023
Rehearsals on Wednesdays from 7:00 – 9:00pm
Britannia Community Centre – Seniors Centre room
1661 Napier St, Vancouver, BC V5L 4X4
$70 for spring term
Come sing with the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre Choir!
Our choir meets once a week to learn and practice songs that reflect the immense diversity of musical genres from all over Latin America. Songs are in Spanish and Portuguese. Sergio Pires, the choral conductor, is an educator and music researcher who holds a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from Boston University and Masters and Licentiate degrees in music from Brazilian institutions. Everybody is welcome to participate. Join this fun community activity, sing, and make friends!
Register by email to danais@vlacc.ca

Re:Location Free Online Premiere Episode 3 - Sal Ferreras
2023-03-15 18:30 - 19:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2003, Sal Ferreras is a Puerto Rican-Canadian musician, producer, composer and educator who came to Canada in 1972.
He has performed in almost every musical genre on the Canadian music scene with collaborations that included classical music, world music, jazz, new music, indigenous music, improvisation, folk, and children’s music.
Sal Ferreras was the principal percussionist of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. He toured as a member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Viveza, and the World Drums percussion orchestra. He was the artistic director of the Four Host First Nations Aboriginal Pavilion during the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2010.
As an academic, Sal Ferreras is the former Provost and VP Academics at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and former Dean of the Vancouver Community College School of Music. He earned a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia in 2005 and is a regular advisor on cultural policy for several cultural organizations.
Join us for our free online 10-minute documentary Premiere to learn more about Sal Ferreras’ journey in Canada.

When: Wednesday, March 15 at 6:30 pm
Where: www.vlacc.ca/relocation
Free Online Premiere

New videos will be released every month through May 2023.
Join our mailing list to hear about the latest, plus our other great events and activities.
If you liked Re:Location, our documentary series, consider making a donation! The Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre (VLACC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cultural diversity by sharing Latin American culture.

Latin American Short Stories Reading Group - March
2023-03-14 18:30 - 20:00 | Vancouver, B.C., Canada
VLACC is pleased to present, in partnership with UBC’s Latin American Studies program, a reading group open to anyone interested in short stories written by Latin American authors.
Join us on Tuesday, March 14 at 6:30 pm, at the Conference Room (1661 Napier St, Vancouver) for a discussion on the stories “Woman Hollering Creek” (1991) by Chicana author Sandra Cisneros (1954- ) and “Back to the Land” (2014) by Mexican author Laia Jufresa (1983- ). Professor Tamara Mitchell will facilitate the discussion.
The stories are in English translations. Discussions will also be led in English. No background in Latin American literature or culture is required.

Register

Link to the stories:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rIEsW8RpOjp_VHkWKfaqwq2QVJysg6H0

About the facilitator:
Tamara Mitchell is a scholar of 20th- and 21st-century Latin American literatures and cultures. Her work examines the relationship among aesthetics, politics, and the literary tradition in the current epoch of neoliberal globalization, with a focus on Mexican and Central American narrative fiction. At UBC, Tamara is the faculty lead on the Sound and the Humanities Research Cluster.
Tamara received a Master of Arts in Spanish Literature at the University of Kansas (2009), following which she spent a year abroad as Assistant Professor of English Philology at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, and taught for two years as a Lecturer of Spanish at Clemson University in South Carolina. She received a Ph.D. in Latin American Literatures from Indiana University, Bloomington (2019), where she conducted research abroad as a FLAS Fellow and Tinker recipient.
Date: Tuesday, March 14
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Place: Conference Room (Britannia Community Services Centre) – 1661 Napier St, Vancouver, BC V5L 4X4

Register
