Viva Event Center, MOLAA
$15 / Members $10
Purchase your tickets HERE.
In his talk Activism & the Arts: A Life Journey, influential artist/educator/activist Dan Guerrero speaks of the history and intersection of the Chicano and LGBTQ communities while addressing the importance of solidarity across contemporary cultural currents. A Q&A and panel discussion moderated by Eduardo Lara follows the story-telling presentation.
Dan Guerrero - Presenter
Guerrero is an influential activist, speaking out in print, television and radio interviews in English and Spanish on both Latino/Chicano and LGBTQ issues. He is a popular figure on the speaking circuit and has addressed groups and organizations including the National Council of La Raza in Washington, DC, the Southern Arizona LULAC Youth Leadership Conference in Tucson, the California Teachers Association Conference in Palm Springs and the National Education Association conference in Washington, DC among many others.
His presentation, Activism & the Arts: A Life Journey has been hailed for its portrayal of the intersection of the Chicano and LGBTQ social and political movements and the interconnected lives of artists and activists who fueled the civil rights struggles of the past several decades. The talk has been presented at UCSB, UCLA, UT Austin, Cal State Northridge, the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix and at a LULAC conference in Dallas among others. The Smithsonian Latino Center and the Human Rights Campaign also brought it to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC for a special presentation.
Eduardo Lara, Ph.D. - Moderator
Dr. Eduardo Lara has called Long Beach home for over a decade. Lured by the charming “small town, big city” feel of the community, his roots were furthered anchored when meeting his partner, now husband, Gaudencio Márquez. As an active resident of Retro Row, Eduardo has served in various leadership roles to deliver transformative educational experiences in diverse schools while also being civically engaged. His professional portfolio includes work as an LAUSD middle school teacher, Director of an Urban Education master’s degree program at LMU, Associate Director of the Youth Empowerment and Research Seminar at Pepperdine, and Director of Research for the Health Literacy Project. Civic activism called his attention through service as a former Obama Organizing Fellow, California Democratic Delegate, AIDS/LifeCycle participant and a committee member for both the Long Beach LGBTQ+ and Justice Fund advisory groups. He holds bachelor and master’s degrees from George Washington University; his Ph.D. in Education is from UCLA. Currently, he’s a Sociologist of Education at Cal State Long Beach, consults on social justice projects, and serves as a Board of Director for the LGBTQ Center Long Beach.
Griselda Suárez - Panelist
Suarez is a writer, artist, cook, and a teacher. She was born in unincorporated East Los Angeles and walked Whittier Blvd and Brooklyn Ave in black and white saddle shoes. She grew up in a place where her thoughts did not easily find voice; instead, she found a pen and paper. She believes that the arts are essential in empowering others to express their thoughts. Throughout her career, she has created programming and trainings dedicated to facilitating transformation and creating agency for her communities. In 2016, she became the Executive Director of the Arts Council for Long Beach and currently serves as an advisor for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors’ Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative council, representing the fourth supervisorial district She teaches at Cal State Long Beach for the Chicano and Latino Studies department since 2006. Griselda was awarded “40 under 40” by the LB Post for her leadership in the arts and her resiliency in battling cancer. Suarez is dedicated to Long Beach and loves contributing to the city because she strongly believes in the impact arts has on residents’ lives. She established a restaurant in 2014 and fulfilled one of her dreams of being selected for the 100 Favorite Dishes list by Gustavo Arellano. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Aunt Lute Press, Seal Press, NCOC Press, Acentos Literary Review, Finishing Line Press and Sinister Wisdom Journal. Her first poetry collection was nominated for the California Book Prize and she was honored to produce “Testimonies, Chisme and Spilling the Tea: An Evening of Poetry” for the National Queer Arts Festival in 2009. She is the founding editor of the Culture and Arts section of xQsí Magazine. She currently serves on the U.S. Urban Arts Federation, a committee under the national advocacy agency Americans for the Arts.
Rob Fatal - Panelis
Rob Fatal is a filmmaker and new media artist concerned with the Queer archive and exploring decolonial aesthetics using non-linear storytelling, experimental video editing practices, virtual reality, video installation, and projection mapping. Narrative paradigm theory, hybridity theory, post-colonialism and hypermedia practices allow Fatal to re-imagine their own indigenous storytelling tradition for our contemporary, digital, colonial-era which Fatal refers to as the "indigenous post-apocalypse". In this post-apocalyptic digital era, Fatal is interested in using their practice and research to craft tangible narratives and environments that audiences must navigate with both mind and body. As a Native American, Latinx and queer artist, Fatal finds community and culture to be their greatest artistic inspiration. To create with the collective minds of unique individuals is a practice that brings to them a great spiritual catharsis; a feeling of joy and power tied to the realization of what people working together can accomplish when in harmony: a home, a shared reality, justice, and healing.
Fatal's work has been screened internationally at the British Film Institute Flare Festival, Fringe! Queer Film & Art Festival in London, Antimatter Media Arts Festival, Frameline SF LGBTQ Film Festival, Outsider Fest Austin, Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Broad Museum. Fatal's films are distributed by the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Center.