{"id":5777,"date":"2023-02-27T16:08:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T00:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/about\/history\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:35:41","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/about\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section full_width=”stretch_row_content”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5767″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]M\u00c1S, started as a seed in <\/span>2013<\/b>, when M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart<\/a> applied for funding from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods for a project called \u201cPlanning Stage: Afro-Latino Arts and Education Project.\u201d Through this grant, M\u00f3nica brought together a group of community leaders who represented <\/span>Grupo Bayano<\/b><\/a> (AfroPuerto Rican dance group), <\/span>Fundaci\u00f3n Internacional Capoeira Angola de Seattle<\/b><\/a> (FICA-Seattle, AfroBrazilian martial arts), <\/span>Seattle Fandango Project<\/b><\/a> (Mexico), Hagucha Garinagu<\/a> (Ra\u00edces Gar\u00edfuna, a music and dance group with members from Honduras and Guatemala), Todo Folklore Cubano (AfroCuban music and dance group) and De Caj\u00f3n Project<\/a> (AfroPeruvian arts organization). this group of leaders became the \u201cBlack Diaspora Initiative”<\/strong>. Together, they conducted a year-long research project that included 4 community forums in different parts of Seattle to ask the community what they would like to see at an Afrolatino event focused on art and education. <\/span><\/p>\n

The massive response from the community was an indication of the great need in Seattle for an Afrolatino space. This project was envisioned as a space that could fill that void. The idea was born to create a non-profit organization that would carry out programs throughout the year. At <\/span>2014<\/b> the Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle (M\u00c1S) was officially incorporated, established a few years later as a non-profit organization 501(c)(3). <\/span><\/p>\n

The Founding Board of Directors who established M\u00c1S as non-profit organization were:<\/span>Larrainzar, Anne Petersen, Keisha Wilson, Ricardo G\u00fcity<\/a>, Delia Pinto Santin<\/a>i and Silvio Dos Reis<\/a>, with the executive direction of M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart<\/b>. We also had an intern that year, <\/span>the organization of M\u00c1S documents as an<\/span> intern.<\/b><\/p>\n

In <\/span>2015<\/b>, with the support of the City of Seattle Neighborhood Department, M\u00c1S offered a 5-week educational art series, which included events both in the community and at the University of Washington The Afro-Latino arts education season brought together a total of 900 people. People of all ages, community members, and UW students had the opportunity to participate in workshops and volunteer at Casa Latina. In addition to the fall season, M\u00c1S conducted multiple community dialogues on Afro-Latin Identity, Afro-Latin women mothers, the Afro-Latin roots of Hip Hop, the roots of Salsa and Afro-Cuban dance, among others. <\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>2016<\/b>, M\u00c1S officially became a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status. Since this initiative was born in 2013, and to this day, it has created and continues to create infinite healing stories. We know that we must create a strong platform to continue growing in that direction. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Founder” title_align=”separator_align_left” color=”black” style=”shadow”][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_cta h2=”M\u00f3nica Rojas” add_button=”bottom” btn_title=”More” btn_style=”outline” btn_color=”mulled-wine” css=”” btn_link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fmovimientoafrolatino.org%2Fen%2Fteam%2Fmonica-rojas-stewart%2F|”]\"\"<\/p>\n

A Peruvian born and raised artist and scholar, currently residing in Seattle, Washington. She has devoted the last 20 years to extensive community organizing, research and artistic work as a pioneering performer and educator of Afro-Peruvian culture and the Afro-Latin art movement in the Pacific Northwest.[\/vc_cta][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner]

<\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tAd9Mn2ePxs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=90dIgz5My9U”][\/vc_column][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section full_width=”stretch_row_content”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5767″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]M\u00c1S, started as a seed in 2013, when M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart applied for funding from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods for a project called \u201cPlanning Stage: Afro-Latino Arts and Education Project.\u201d Through this grant, M\u00f3nica brought together a group of community leaders who represented Grupo Bayano (AfroPuerto Rican dance group), Fundaci\u00f3n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":3773,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5777","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5777"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9652,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5777\/revisions\/9652"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}