{"id":3581,"date":"2021-12-29T19:32:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T03:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/2021\/12\/29\/afro-latino-movement-seattle-2021-summary\/"},"modified":"2022-02-22T17:14:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T01:14:15","slug":"afro-latino-movement-seattle-2021-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movimientoafrolatino.org\/en\/2021\/12\/29\/afro-latino-movement-seattle-2021-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Afro-Latino Movement Seattle – 2021 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Read in Spanish<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Dear MORE Community, <\/p>\n\n

This year 2021 has passed very quickly, without realizing it we are close to another end of the year. We continue to adapt and learn from the pandemic and from each situation that COVID-19 brings us, with the different variants of the virus and the impact it has on our communities. Nonetheless, our community’s capacity for adaptation and resilience always offers us the strength and wisdom necessary to go through these difficult moments and understand how to root ourselves to what is essential, to continue celebrating life, our ancestors, to make room for creation and making art. , strengthen cultural ties, maintain connections and invent new ways of being together. <\/p>\n\n

Thus, we want to close the year by celebrating and sharing this year’s MORE achievements and remembering that our ancestors always light the way for us. <\/p>\n\n

The M\u00c1S team wishes you Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year.<\/p>\n\n

we want to share a summary of the events of 2021<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

2021 PLUS Achievements<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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Connecting MORE<\/h2>\n\n
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This program connects 15 to 20 years old Afrolatinxs \/ Afroind\u00edgenas and \/ or Latinxs youths. During 10 biweekly meetings, youths participate in seminars on Afrolatinidad, interview local Afrolatinxs \/ Afroind\u00edgenas artists and have the opportunity to compose expository pieces that are published on the M\u00c1S website and create a work of art that explores their own cultural heritage. The program culminates with a celebration and exhibition of youth’s work, who also receive a small financial reward for their participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, thanks to the support of the Seattle Foundation through its N2N program, we were able to implement the pilot of this youth program. From March 2021 to August 2021, six (6) youths were participating in the program and were connected with six (6) Afro-Latinx Artists residing in the Seattle area and doing Afro-Latin arts outreach work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are currently working to give continuity to this program and plan to start a new cycle in March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We invite you to click the program link so you can appreciate the work done by the youths this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pilot Cohort<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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MORE Conversations for MORE Pride<\/h2>\n\n
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This virtual space was born within the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to national racial tensions surfacing in May 2020. The aim was to raise awareness about anti-blackness feelings and provide a space of support and healing for members of our community. Our firm intention is to focus the voices of Afrodescendant and Afro-Indigenous people, and highlight community dialogue and art as a way to reinvent and create space to connect and strengthen the identities that oppressive systems try to erase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year we carried out two series of three conversations each:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Afro Aesthetic Series:<\/strong> Braiding Identity, Wisdom and Resistance (March 13), Aesthetics, Body and Domestic Work (April 24); Arts as a route for Restoration and Liberation (May 29); <\/li>
  2. Territories of Freedom Series: Testimonies from the Afro Diaspora:<\/strong> Conversation #1 (October 16), Conversation #2 (November 13), Conversation #3 (December 11). We carried out this second series with funding and technical support from PeoplesHub.<\/a> <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This space has been one of great learning, communion and healing both for those who organize it and for all participants. For this reason we keep working to establish it as a permanent program of the organization. We continue to organize ourselves to bring two new series of conversations for 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A deep thanks to the \u201cComadres\u201d who braid their voices every week to build this much-needed space: Haydee Lavariega, Teresita Bazan, Delia Pinto Santini, Sandra Huber, Minox Minoty, Meyby Ugueto Ponce, Rayza De La Hoz and Milvia Berenice Pacheco Salvatierra.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Conversations 2021<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    MORE Workshops<\/h2>\n\n

    Afro Hair Care and Traditional Turbans<\/h2>\n\n
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    From the experience of \u201cMORE conversations for MORE Pride\u201d we realized that we had to create a specific space for restoration and self-care linked to the topics we dealt with in those conversations. These workshops are MORE answers to give continuity to this process of restoration. A space to gather together to heal collectively and share ancestral knowledge that helps us repair the wounds caused by colonial processes. <\/p>\n\n

    In these two workshops, our comadre Rayza De La Hoz shared several recipes for natural massages for Afro hair care, as well as a theoretical and analytical framework of the impact that anti-blackness and colonial processes have on the way we relate to each other. We also discussed the importance of Afro hair care and the use of the turban as a political tool of resistance, empowerment, connection and manifestation of the ancestral legacy.<\/p>\n\n

    These workshops were held in August, with the support and financial subsidy of Verdant Health Commission<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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    At the beginning of this year the production of our first musical track \u201cEl Eslab\u00f3n\u201d was completed. Participating artists recorded in Seattle, Washington from their homes during the 2020 quarantine. We hope to release the musical video of this song in the first quarter of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We thank the efforts and work of the following participating artists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Music<\/strong> : Eduardo Montero and Otoqui Reyes. Lyrics<\/strong> : Eduardo Montero, Otoqui Reyes, Roberto Bonaccorso, Alfredo Ch\u00e1vez and M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart. Arrangements and Musical Production<\/strong> : Eduardo Montero. Participating Musicians<\/strong> : Roberto Bonaccorso, Lian Caspi, Alfredo Chavez, Diego Coy, Adonis Mabin, Eduardo Montero and M\u00f3nica Rojas-Stewart.Executive Production<\/strong> : Monica Rojas-Stewart. Mixed, edited and mastered<\/strong> by Omar Rojas in Lima, Peru.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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    more versed, <\/strong>Oral Traditions that Heal<\/h2>\n\n
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    For this virtual event that took place on Saturday, November 20, we joined the COVID-19 vaccine Outreach Program in partnership with the Washington Department of Health<\/a><\/strong> . The event was also created in collaboration with the Mental Health Matter<\/a> program.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The objective of this campaign was to increase awareness of the Afro-Latino community about the importance of getting vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19, as a tool that helps us achieve the goal of meeting in person and without fear to celebrate our traditions. We believe that parties, singing and dancing connect us socially and spiritually, and provide us with physical and emotional well-being that strengthens our mental health. (Enter the link to learn more about this beautiful and beneficial program that had the participation of Afro-Latinx artists from Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Panama.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    MORE Versatile<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    PLUS 2021 Grants and Collaborations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

    Our deep gratitude to all our sponsors and collaborators this year, thanks to their support and collaboration we have been able to grow as an organization and get closer to our vision. Thanks to the M\u00c1S board of directors and all the volunteers who contribute to making the M\u00c1S experience possible; and to all community members who follow us, support us and continue to believe that ‘we are stronger united’.<\/p>\n\n