All throughout Austin you will find Latino-inspired and/or owned establishments around town, from the famous Juan in a Million restaurant to the beautiful Mexic-Arte Museum in the heart of our city. Austin is no stranger to the Latino culture and that is why May is marked as Latino Music Month. This marks the 11th year Austin has celebrated Latino Music Month with performances of Latino music in various venues across the city. Here are some events happening during this month where you can get your fix of Latino music: Plaza at Austin City Hall Each Friday in May around noon, there will be various Latino Music genres showcased! This is open to the public and completely free. 19th Annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival From May 4th through May 8th, you can catch films made by and/or about Latinos or Indigenous peoples of the Americas that will include Latino-inspired music. There are also volunteering opportunities which you can learn more about here. Tickets start at $30. Los Master Plus Cinco De Mayo Fiesta Check out Los Master Plus, a group from Guadalajara, México, with support by Master Blaster Sound System and Peligrosa at the Empire Garage on Friday, May 6th. Tickets start at $9. SunSet Salsa and Bon Voyage Party “On The River” Dance to your favorite Salsa, Cha Cha and Bachata while you watch the sun set over town lake on Friday, May 6 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m at Alta’s cafe. If you purchase early bird tickets […]
Read MoreWho Was César Chávez?
Photo by: Wikimedia Commons From east César Chávez Street to the César Chávez neighborhood, Chávez’s presence is obvious in our city. So who was César Chávez? César Chávez was one of the best-known Latino American civil rights activists who fought for social justice. He was born on March 31, 1927 outside of Yuma, Arizona. According to CesarChavezHoliday.org, from the young age of 10, César became a migrant farm worker; he was forced to drop out of school after completing the eighth grade in order to help his family out. As a farm worker, César was exposed to the hardships and injustices of the farm worker life. In the early 1960’s he founded the United Farm Workers Association, the nations first successful and largest farm workers union. Chávez lead the organization as president and was able to win the first union contracts for agriculture workers in the grape fields – from here millions followed his lead on his journey for equality and unity and won enormous achievements for farm workers for civil rights, political representation for minorities and environmental justice. The impact César Chávez made has positively influenced and inspired millions of people from all over the country. He had a motto ,“Si se puede!” (Yes, it can be done!), which was coined in the early 1970’s and perfectly exemplifies his legacy. In honor of César, various schools, parks, streets and other public facilities have been named after him. César Chávez Day is observed in the United States on March 31st, […]
Read MoreMay Face 2 Face Recap with Alejandro Ruelas
May’s Face 2 Face speaker series, sponsored by the Austin Business Journal and Whole Foods, hosted Alejandro Ruelas, the co-founder of LatinWorks. LatinWorks is a cultural branding agency headquartered in Austin. “My advice to corporations when entering the multicultural space is to not just check off the ‘appeal to minority ethnic groups’ box. Companies need to really focus on the way their minority clients live and work, and cater to the like mindsets of different cultures.” — Alejandro Ruelas LatinWorks began in St. Louis, but later moved to Austin. Ruelas said some of the reasons for the move to Austin included the diversity of the city’s people, affordability, growing size of the city and the large pool of minority graduates from the University of Texas advertising program. LatinWorks is the most awarded multicultural agency in the advertising industry. The agency has won nine Cannes Lions, was recognized as Multicultural Agency of the year (twice by Adweek and three times by Ad Age), among many other national and international awards. LatinWorks was named by Ad Age as one of the top ten advertising agencies in the country on two separate occasions in 2010 and 2014. LatinWorks clients include Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo, Lowe’s, Domino’s Pizza and Target, among others. Ruelas said his biggest mistake when starting LatinWorks was that he took on too much work himself and did not delegate enough. “One of my biggest mistakes when building my company was to not trust the talented staff that surrounded me. I stuck my […]
Read More