POPUL/ARTE
(NEW) Popul/Arte Season 1 Now Available YouTube!
Dr. Michael Wilson-Becerril's Lectures | Negráfrica's Art Workshops
At the Latino Cultural Arts Center (LCAC), we believe art MUST be at the service of la justicia. More people identify as organizers and activists than ever before, with good reason. The world faces mutually intensifying crises—ecological, social, cultural, political, economic, and even spiritual. This urgently demands unprecedented consciousness and collective action.
In response, the LCAC launched Season One of Popul/Arte, an innovative artist-scholar Residency that merges art, culture and theory. Academia can give people the tools to lift their communities through el conocimiento, la creatividad, el arte, y la innovación. However, it is inaccessible financially and at most reluctant to communicate clearly with non-specialist audiences. Popul/Arte seeks to change that by bringing theory back to the people.
The Logistics
“Popul/Arte” offered two weekly workshops over four weeks. Did you happen to miss season one? ¡No te preocupes! Popul/Arte season one can be watched on YouTube in English and Portuguese.
Inaugural Artists + Scholar
The LCAC is proud to announce Michael Wilson-Becerril, Ph.D. as the inaugural scholar. Michael is an activist-scholar from Mexico City, Mexico. His organizing and academic work specializes in political ecologies of violence, resistance, and peace, with an emphasis in Latin America.
We are likewise pleased to announce Mayara Smith, Camila Parreiras, Daiely Gonçalves, Jéssica Goés, Leticia Moreno from Negráfrica, as the inaugural artists. Negráfrica is a Brazilian artist collective specializing in different mediums such as comics, photography, painting, drawing and poetry. Their art is focused on investigating identity, race, and their experiences as Black women.
Juntos, Michael and Negráfrica focused on the themes of “Peace and Conflict in Latin America: Violence, Resistance, and Social Justice”—creating eight workshops on how to make change, from everyday artivism and grassroots organizing to institutional and international change.
The world needs answers now more than ever: how do we transform violence and build peace? "Popul/Arte" takes an interdisciplinary approach while centering Latin American arts, cultures, and histories in pursuit of this question.