Viva Poesia
April 12 @ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Join us at The Cheech for an evening of powerful poesía co-hosted with Cultura con Llantas
Chicano art, music, and literature played a role in capturing the spirit of an entire community which propelled, nourished, and sustained the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Artists that embraced Chicana/o identities at that time addressed pressing social justice concerns such as educational and economic inequality, farmworker rights, and other forms of state violence and oppression in the United States.
The oral tradition of spoken word in music or storytelling has been the way that our history and culture has endured and persevered. Poetry is an extension of that oral tradition and is the sister spirit of music. It gives voice to our struggles and allows us to work towards a collective consciousness for our gente as we maintain our cultural identity and fight for political power and place in an ever-changing world. Poets continue to be the voice of our community.
Co-Hosted By
Alma Rosa Azul is a Chicana spoken word poet, community organizer, and mother. She is the co-founder of Barrio Fuerza located in Downtown San Bernardino, host of Barrio Poetry Club Open Mic, and Facilitator behind Word Blossom writing hour..She considers herself a self taught and community based poet and deeply believes that poetry should belong to the poor, the everyday person, and all of humanity. She is Alma Rosa Azul. A name in three parts to braid and then tie at the end with a poem.
Featured Poets
Jag Arreola is a hip-hop artist from Fontana, California (Unsurrendered Kizh land). He is a survivor of the police retaliation & wrongful incarceration that happened to him and 7 others in San Bernardino County, dubbed the “Justice 8”. The content in his music highlights a strong commitment to sobriety, militant decolonization & the push for liberation for all marginalized peoples from a Chicano indigenous perspective.
Sammy is a Mexican-American educator, poet, spoken word artist, and zine queen from the San Gabriel Valley. She has reached many new stages with her recent comeback to poetry writing on topics such as feminism, racism, working with children, mental health, love, and heartbreak. She’s been eagerly making a name for herself by placing 1st place in both the OC Poetry Slam in October and Pomona Slam in December. Sammy is currently working on her manuscript for her debut poetry collection, Empty Fields of Sunflowers.
Angela Aguirre is a Chicana writer, speaker, and teacher from Pasadena, California. From her poetry to her podcast, she uses her unique and powerful voice to speak life into her community. With a degree in Communication Studies and Rhetoric from Cal State LA, she believes poetry is medicine. For the last ten years, she has shared that medicine at events around the country and taught writing workshops at universities, nonprofits, and detention centers. Angela hopes to inspire people, particularly young women, to find their voice and to use it. Recognized for her impactful work, she has received awards such as Woman of the Year in 2017 and the YWCA Women for Racial Justice Award in 2022. Angela has been featured by LACMA, TEDx, The Huffington Post, and The LA Times to name a few.
Erick Aguinaldo is a spoken word poet, professor A father, brother, fighter, and lover He was born in LA and raised in the IE. He has some degrees from some fancy universities but has learned the most from his community. From the walls of formal education to the forced segregation of the streets, he draws strength from the resistant and resilient. For him San Bernardino is home. He embraces the good, the bad, and the ugly. He firmly believes true power is in the people.
A Cultura Con Llantas Event
Free
