A performance at CMC by the Grammy Award-winning Mariachi Divas is among the activities this week and throughout April commemorating the birthday of civil rights activist Cesar Chavez. The celebration launches officially across The Claremont Colleges on Tuesday, March 24 with a free screening of Made in L.A., at 7 p.m. in Balch Auditorium, Scripps College. The documentary follows the lives of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops.
For more information about the Emmy Award-winning film, visit:
http://www.madeinla.com/.
Activities continue Wednesday, March 25 with two events: a 3 p.m. tea at Scripps College, featuring Los Angeles-based samba dancers and drummers, and a 6:45 evening performance by the Mariachi Divas at CMC's Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum (http://www.mariachidivas.com/).
Mariachi Divas, a multicultural ensemble founded in 1999, features an all-female cast of musicians of Mexican, Cuban, Samoan, Argentinean, Colombian, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Swiss, and Anglo decent.
"Music is a way of uniting our cultural backgrounds," founder and director Cindy Shea says. "Our foundation and roots are mariachi, but we have added extra elements to reflect our diversity."
Later in the week, at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 28, Los Angeles-based activist performance ensemble Contra-tiempo will perform I Dream America at Pitzer College (see calendar below for location).
Fusing Salsa, Afro-Cuban, West African, Hip-Hop, and abstract dance-theater, and inspired by the recent immigration debate and the Katrina disaster, the performance engages the "tensions and commonalities" of diverse communities, particularly the Black and Latino communities.
Commemorative activities scheduled across the Colleges for March and April, are as follows:
Tuesday, March 24
Made in L.A.
Documentary film screening
7 p.m.
Free admission
Balch Auditorium, Scripps College
Wednesday, March 25
Mariachi Divas
Ensemble musical performance
6:45 p.m.
Athenaeum, Claremont McKenna College
Thursday, March 26
"Humor in a Caliente Vein: Satire and its Relationship to Saving the Mexican Race," featuring O.C. Weekly columnist and author Gustavo Arrellano
12 p.m./noon
Malott Commons, Scripps College
Dolores Huerta Luncheon
11:30-1 p.m.
Founders Room, Pitzer College
Friday, March 27
Contra-tiempo
Dance performance
7 p.m.
Broad Performance Space, Pitzer College
Saturday, March 28
Second Annual Rockabilly Festival
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Mounds, Pitzer College
Monday, March 30
Community lunch with artist Sim?n Silva
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Multipurpose Room, Tranquada Student Services Center
Sim?n Silva reception
2:30 p.m.
Platt Living Room, Harvey Mudd College
Sim?n Silva Presentation ("Art for a Conceptual Age")
6 p.m.
Broad Performance Space, Pitzer College
Tuesday, March 31
Paula Crisostomo, Social Activist Behind a Seminal Moment in Chicana/o History
7 p.m.
Broad Performance Space, Pitzer College
"Traveling as a Single Woman"
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
7:30 p.m., SCORE Office, Scripps College
Wednesday, April 1
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Border Lines
Reading and book signing
7:30 p.m.
Balch Auditorium, Scripps College
Thursday, April 2
Daniel Jose Custodio
Spoken word event
"Daniel's Slam"
4:15 p.m.
Broad Performance Space, Pitzer College
Thursday, April 9
An Evening with Guillermo Gomez-Pena
Spoken word event
8 p.m.
Seaver Theater, Pomona College
Wednesday, April 15
Barber of East L.A.
Stage Play
7 p.m.
Rose Hills Theater, Smith Campus Center
Pomona College
Saturday, April 18
Cesar Chavez Pilgrimage
9:30 a.m.
Day Labor Center
City of Pomona