The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture Free Event, Viva Poesia on 5/20

Viva Poesia is a free event, open to everyone – RSVP here.

Meet the artists:

Laura Arajo S

The everyday hustle of life inspires Laura to write beautiful, meaningful, and transformative narratives. The Mexican-born, queer Chicana creates and works tirelessly to produce literary work and visual art in the Inland Empire where she resides with her wife.

Collaborations with artists from the region have materialized into stage productions, multimedia exhibits, and transmedia projects that stir and still the soul. La palabra es alma, hence, her words in combination with various forms of media embody the weaving of identity, memory, multiple self, and collective being. Her work has been showcased at the McCallum Theater, Manhattan Beach Arts Center, Coachella Valley Arts Center, California Museum of Photography, Millard Sheets Art Center, and San Bernardino Valley College.

Alma Rosa Azul (@almarosaazul)

Alma Rosa Azul is a Chicana spoken word poet, community organizer, and mother. She is Co-founder of Barrio Fuerza, an autonomous community space in Downtown, San Bernardino, Host of Barrio Poetry Club Open Mic and facilitator of Word Blossom a free writing group that meets at the Garcia Center for the Arts.  She’s collaborated through the years with several major platforms including but not limited to The Main Museum, MITÚ, Latina Magazine, L.A Taco, and La Plaza de la Raza. When she isn’t reading poetry on the mic, she can be found reading them into her children, the clouds, or a freshly made blue tortilla.

Joseph Rios (@josefobear)

Joseph Rios is the author of Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations, winner of the American Book Award. He is the current Poet Laureate of Fresno, CA and a Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford University. His poems can be found at Poem-A-Day, Huizache, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on Metro buses and trains in Los Angeles.

Brenda Vaca (@iambrendavaca)

Brenda Vaca is a Xicana poet, author, and independent publisher from Sejatnga, Unceded Tongva Territory, known as South Whittier, CA. She earned her B.A. in English at U.C.Berkeley with a Minor in Creative Writing and later earned a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Biblical Languages at the Pacific School of Religion/Graduate Theological Union. Riot of Roses is her debut collection of poetry published by her indie house, Riot of Roses Publishing House.

Matthew Cuban Hernandez (@matthewcubanofficial)

Matthew ‘Cuban’ Hernandez is a poet, emcee, speaker, actor, and performance coach from Jacksonville, Florida. He has toured as far as Abu Dhabi and nearly every major city in the United States and Europe, performing, teaching and coaching poetry. A teaching artist for over 15 years, Matthew has spent the last ten years working in youth detention centers across Los Angeles County, currently serving as the Director of Camp Programming for Street Poets, Inc. In addition, he is a current Lead Teacher and Co-Founder of Spoken Literature Art Movement. Cuban has opened for artists such as Wu-Tang, performed for platforms such as BuzzFeed and NPR and even appeared on the award-winning television show, Better Things. Matthew is also a three time Southern Fried poetry slam champion and an award-winning poetry coach. Cuban’s favorite activity is making people feel great; sometimes he does this through hip hop and poetry.