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eXtra Herstory: Fatima Ramirez & Paseo Artistico · RAMA Blueprints

• 0:07
  Socorro: Good morning.
• 0:07
  We're in San Francisco, California.
• 0:09
  We are in the Mission District on a gloomy day, but a beautiful day
• 0:13
  to have Fatima Ramirez with us, the executive director of Accíon Latina and
• 0:17
  publisher of El Tecolote, a newspaper that has been an activist voice for the
• 0:24
  community getting ready to celebrate 53 years of community activism.
• 0:29
  Fatima: Thank you.
• 0:29
  Thank you so much for having me back today onto the show.
• 0:33
  Some reflections I guess that have come just from that conversation was just
• 0:37
  really the beauty of the tres generacíones coming together as I shared that day, and
• 0:43
  I've just kept thinking about it when we were at the live podcast is really this
• 0:47
  idea of the trenza and really having three different strands, three different
• 0:52
  voices and generations represented.
• 0:54
  And really the beauty and the power that comes from that especially when there
• 1:00
  are moments of sometimes of crisis and sometimes of violence as well which,
• 1:05
  you know, unfortunately has been the case here in the Mission District.
• 1:08
  But I think that coming back to that sense of wisdom that comes from having
• 1:13
  three generations come together really helps us to remember that we have
• 1:18
  survived other violent periods in the Mission District and I think as
• 1:24
  a Latinx community in general, when we fall down, we always get back up.
• 1:28
  So that's something that I've kept thinking about.
• 1:31
  Socorro: Wow.
• 1:32
  that part of community resilience seeing a community come together
• 1:36
  and react in a proactive way.
• 1:39
  I'm proud to say that at least that's one of the things that I did take with me.
• 1:43
  You know, one of the questions that came to us was, how do you
• 1:46
  use art as an act of resilience?
• 1:51
  Fatima: Yeah, thinking back about Accíon Latina and our mission and the work that
• 1:55
  we do, I see everything, that we do in terms of community media, culture, arts
• 2:00
  and civic engagement as really different ways of approaching storytelling.
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  And we do that both through journalism as well as through the arts.
• 2:09
  And specifically some of the ways in which we've blended that is through our
• 2:12
  Paseo Artistico program, which began in 2016, and it's something that we curate
• 2:18
  and organize in community with about a dozen other cultural organizations in
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  the Mission District along 24th Street.
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  Together we determine what the theme is as well as which
• 2:30
  artists are going to participate.
• 2:32
  And it's been an amazing vehicle for us to be able to respond
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  particularly in times when community is facing some kind of difficulty.
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  I'm always amazed at the ways in which artists themselves can
• 2:45
  be first responders to crisis.
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  And to do that in such an innovative way, that also leans on our traditions
• 2:53
  and reminds us ultimately of who we are so that we're able to hold onto that
• 2:57
  hope that things are gonna be able to get better, that look at the beauty that
• 3:01
  we're able to put out into the world.
• 3:03
  We don't have to get so disheartened by the gloom around us.
• 3:07
  Socorro: Thank you for that.
• 3:09
  Staying on the topic of Paseo Artistico, tell us a little bit about how it
• 3:14
  was born and then also the role that the community at large plays in the
• 3:18
  design of it and the development of it.
• 3:20
  Fatima: So, my understanding of it when it was first created in 2016,
• 3:24
  it was a collaboration between Accíon Latina as well as Calle
• 3:27
  Viente Cuatro to be able to bring our organizations together and be able to
• 3:33
  curate programming together as well.
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  So we're really fortunate that we received a two year seed grant essentially
• 3:40
  from the California Arts Council.
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  That's what allowed us to be able to get it started.
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  And since then, Accíon Latina has moved on to become the main producer of the Paseo
• 3:50
  and really continuing that tradition always in what do we wanna do together?
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  Because individually, each one of our cultural arts organizations has a lot
• 3:59
  of robust programming, but I think there's a lot of power of being able
• 4:03
  to actually come together as well and have a united front, a united event
• 4:08
  that we present back to the community.
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  And during the pandemic many of our partners actually shared that
• 4:14
  it was Paseo that felt like a glue for them to be able to continue to
• 4:19
  have a presence in the corridor.
• 4:20
  Even if our doors had to be closed, even if we were in quarantine, there
• 4:24
  was still at least a virtual or a hybrid way of interacting with our
• 4:27
  audiences, and that kept us all together.
• 4:30
  Socorro: I wanna explore a little something with you.
• 4:33
  You guys are on on 24th Street
• 4:36
  Fatima: 24th Street and Alabama.
• 4:37
  Socorro: Alabama.
• 4:37
  So in that general community, let's just say you have Las Familia Ramirez down
• 4:43
  the street and La Señora Fulana de Tal.
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  How does Paseo Artestico impact that person that, that community member that
• 4:52
  doesn't engage in the arts or what does it bring to them and what, what is the
• 4:57
  overall goal in impacting community?
• 5:01
  Fatima: Yeah, that's a great question.
• 5:02
  I often think about that when, especially we have outdoor
• 5:04
  programming in front of the venues.
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  You know, somebody's there to do a mandado maybe they're just there to
• 5:10
  buy tamales or pan dulce, and all of a sudden theater unfolds on the street and
• 5:14
  now you're a part of the performance.
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  And I think that's beautiful.
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  I think it's amazing that especially for community members that perhaps
• 5:21
  don't attend those events frequently for whatever reason, maybe it's access, maybe
• 5:25
  it's money, time, whatever it might be.
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  For the arts to come to them rather than waiting for them to come to
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  the arts, I think is powerful.
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  And we already have the most beautiful backdrop with all of the murals, with
• 5:36
  all of the iconography and the colors that we have in our neighborhood.
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  So it's the perfect set for us to just unfold into poetry theater out on the
• 5:47
  streets and have people be a part of that.
• 5:49
  Socorro: And in thinking of terms around the principles of RAP and
• 5:52
  self-determination, how does Paseo Artistico execute self-determination,
• 5:58
  community empowerment?
• 6:00
  Fatima: Hmm.
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  Yeah, I think one of the things that comes to mind is that through our different
• 6:05
  partnerships, particularly one with the Community Music Center, for example,
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  one of the things that they've reported back is that when they have their
• 6:12
  students and their, like young musicians program participate in Paseo Artistico,
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  they notice a light bulb goes off.
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  They go from, I'm over here learning how to play this instrument, maybe as a hobby
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  or for something that interests me to now becoming an artist, because they're
• 6:27
  now performing in front of an audience.
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  They're getting feedback and they're realizing, oh, like
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  maybe I wanna keep doing this.
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  Even if it is as a side hobby, or maybe it sparks a career for them.
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  There's a switch that happens when they're able to perform outdoors
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  in front of an audience that really leads them to that transformation
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  of I'm an artist in the community.
• 6:50
  Socorro: Explore with us a little bit about how Accíon Latina
• 6:52
  engages with youth programming
• 6:54
  Fatima: Yeah.
• 6:55
  I know there's certainly been a more direct involvement with
• 6:58
  youth throughout our history.
• 7:00
  We've had the Fuerza Joven program, and I think through El Tecolote, we continue
• 7:04
  to serve as a training ground for the next generation of Latino journalists.
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  Through our artistic programming in our gallery, we always try to emphasize
• 7:14
  having space and creating space for emerging and established Latinx artists.
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  And through Paseo as I just mentioned, that's really an opportunity where
• 7:22
  our partners can also have Youth be present and participate, take
• 7:25
  ownership of their neighborhood, and showcase their artistic talent.
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  In other occasions, we've also had specific journalism programs where
• 7:34
  we work with migrant youth to tell their own stories of migration,
• 7:38
  challenging the mainstream narratives, particularly when, as it happens,
• 7:42
  immigrants will be scapegoated for issues that are happening in the country.
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  This specific journalism program that we had called Migrantes meant to be
• 7:51
  migrantes and a personal testimonial of what their migration journey actually was.
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  That's another opportunity for youth to just reclaim their narrative and
• 8:02
  to also maybe turn on a light bulb and think, oh, maybe journalism
• 8:05
  as a career that I wanna pursue.
• 8:08
  Socorro: What's coming up for Accíon Latina and what are the
• 8:11
  things that are coming forward in regards to actions or activities?
• 8:15
  Fatima: Well, one of the things that you mentioned is we're very proud
• 8:17
  that El Tecolote has now been serving our community for over 50 years.
• 8:21
  We're celebrating 53 years this August.
• 8:24
  And we're gonna be hosting a gala at St.
• 8:27
  Mary's Cathedral on August 26th.
• 8:30
  We're gonna be having a lot of amazing performances that day with John Santos, La
• 8:34
  Familia Peña Govea, Francisco Herrera, and it will be MC'd by two members of Culture
• 8:39
  Clash, Rick Salinas and Richard Montoya.
• 8:42
  So we're very excited, that.
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  even though we didn't get to celebrate the big 50 all in community
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  again because of the pandemic, we finally get to have the big party.
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  And we're hoping everybody can join us to again celebrate how we
• 8:55
  can be resilient as a community.
• 8:57
  Socorro: Thank you so much, Fatima.
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  Thank you for your time.
• 8:59
  Thank you for your work and continued fuerza to you.
• 9:03
  And muchos bendiciones, gracias.
• 9:05
  We've been talking with Fatima Ramirez, executive director of Accíon Latina.
• 9:13
  Thank you for listening.
• 9:15
  Please consider donating to RAMA Blueprints at the CARECENSF.org
• 9:20
  website or the link in the description.
• 9:24
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• 9:28
  This episode was produced and edited by Darren J.
• 9:31
  De Leon and Socorro Gamboa for the 5 Sisters Audio Garden.
• 9:35
  Thank you for listening, and remember to listen is to heal.
• 9:46
  All power to the people.