Enrique Chi of Making Movies is pictured at The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival on Saturday. The Panamanian band will participate in an Equity Speaker Series at TACAW today at 7 p.m., mixing music and dialogue to address history, cultural identity and various issues affecting the world.
The Arts Campus At Willits will host two events in conjunction with the Panamanian band Making Movies, a Grammy-nominated four-piece group known for its Latino community engagement and activism, positive messaging and high-energy concerts.
Today at 7 p.m., Making Movies will participate in TACAW’s ongoing Equity Speaker Series, mixing music and dialogue to address history, cultural identity and various issues affecting the world. On Tuesday, Making Movies will perform a free concert for the community at 7 p.m at TACAW.
Sandwiched between the Making Movies events will be the inaugural Youth Arts Engagement Fair at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The fair will feature interactive booths staffed by local performing arts organizations and educators who want to showcase year-round youth programs in the valley. This bilingual event is for youths of all ages, their families and local educators.
“More than 15 partner organizations will be on hand at the fair to ensure that local youth who want to engage with the arts are aware of all the opportunities available to them,” said Anna Feiss, education manager at TACAW. “By gathering so many partners together to showcase the breadth of youth arts programs available, we can expand their reach and impacts. I hope students find opportunities they didn’t know existed to help them harness their creative expression.
“This is a special chance for students to pick which programs fit their interests and sign up. Ultimately, we want to strengthen the arts education ecosystem here in the valley. Putting all the opportunities for students to participate in the arts under one roof seems like a no-brainer. I suspect it will become an annual tradition.”
Xito Lovell, a trombonist who is currently touring with Making Movies, is shown at The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival on Saturday. The Panamanian band will perform a free concert for the community at TACAW at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Tonight at 7 p.m., Making Movies will participate in TACAW’s ongoing Equity Speaker Series. According to TACAW Executive Director Ryan Honey, “The series provides a space for community members to come together, hear from experts and explore how we can all practice greater equity and cultural humanity in our personal and professional lives.”
Making Movies is Enrique Chi (vocalist, guitarist, songwriter) and his brother, Diego Chi (bassist and vocalist), percussionist Juan-Carlos Chaurand and drummer Duncan Burnett. Trombonist Xito Lovell is currently touring with the band.
Tonight’s workshop will be led by Chi as he shares the 1,000-year journey of his Panamanian folkloric guitar, the Mejorana, and what it reveals about our own cultural and individual stories. The conversation will feature musical demonstrations and performances from the entire band as they venture into mambo, rhumba, salsa, hip hop and rap.
“It’s not so much a lecture as an interactive musical experience,” Chi said in an Aspen Daily News interview. “Music is one of the best ways to learn universal truths about life because music often tells history better than our history books do. History books often have some sort of political narrative and music is just the people telling their own stories. So we use the folklore guitar from Panama as an example of how you can listen to music and learn about the history of a part of the world through understanding the history of the music and where it comes from.”
Honey hopes students and their families will come to TACAW on Tuesday for the engagement fair to hear about art enrichment opportunities and then stay for the Making Movies concert.
“Making Movies is committed to building community through the arts, and this two-day sit-down at TACAW allows them to connect with our community, share their story, and encourage everyone to have some fun. We are lucky to have them,” he said.
