Los Lobos performs at last year’s Raizado Festival in Rio Grande Park. This year, the festival will take place at Aspen Meadows. The musical headliner at Saturday’s Raizado Community Day will be Grammy-nominated singer GUSI, a Colombian-Venezuelan singer who combines Colombian music such as vallenato and cumbia with Latin pop.
The Spanish word “raizado” means “deeply rooted” and when Monica Ramirez went looking for a name for her festival that would celebrate all things in Latine culture, she felt it was the perfect moniker, capturing the deep roots the community has across the United States and beyond. On Thursday, the third annual Raizado Festival returns to Aspen with a packed agenda designed to highlight the truth, power and culture of the Latine community. Attendees will get the opportunity to immerse themselves in a diverse program that highlights the excellence and strength of that community.
The festival seeks to unite and uplift Latines and their allies by providing a space for artists, content creators, grassroots organizers, thought leaders and other supporters to address issues that impact the community’s members, showcasing the creative narratives that are shifting their culture and elevating their power. “This year the overriding theme of Raizado is unity,” said Ramírez, founder of the festival and president of Justice for Migrant Women. “Unity and a celebration of culture in all of its forms, It’s music, It’s dance, it’s culinary arts.
I’m of the mind that food, music and dancing, all these arts naturally bring people together and we’re really using arts as a vehicle to promote understanding, belonging and inclusion.” Ramirez said that by focusing on the arts, culture and the deep contributions Latines have made to the cultural fabric of the U.S.
, it can set the table for addressing more serious issues they face — including systemic racism. “I’m of the belief that if we are going to be able to change systemic issues we need to start to change the way people look at and think about our community,” Ramirez said. “And so by focusing on our culture.
and our music, our song, our dance, and all the beautiful things that we bring into the world, that will create an opening to the people from the Latine community and people who are from allied communities so we can have a space where we feel like we can all gather and convene to really start taking on some of the hard-hitting issues that we’re addressing as a community.” This weekend, attendees can attend master classes, panels, live music, native teachings and a free Community Day on Saturday that’s open to the public. Master classes will be led by visionaries who are shaping the future of the beauty, culinary, cultural and tech sectors.
Some of those classes include “Indigenous Food Ways,” led by Chef Pyet DeSpain; “Glam for Professionals,” led by Alejandra Barraza, celebrity makeup artist and founder of TNT Agency; “Organizing for Lasting Change,” led by Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, executive director of Unemployed Workers United; and “Grow Your Business with AI,” led by Roberto Martinez, Grow with Google Digital Coach. Some of the panels and fireside chats that will take place this weekend include “Understanding the Water Ways,” with Marce Graudiņš, founder and executive director of Azul; “Art as a Tool for Early Education,” with speakers Susie Jaramillo of Canticos and Maria Garza of East Coast Migrant Head Start Project; and “Latinos Powering the Economic Engine of the United States,” with speaker Ana Valdez of Latino Donor Collaborative Inc. The third annual Raizado Festival returns to Aspen Meadows this weekend with a packed agenda designed to highlight the truth, power and culture of the Latine community.
There will be film screenings at the Aspen Film Isis Theatre and a Q&A session featuring director, producer and actor Diego Luna and the film “State of Silence,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. It traces the stories of four journalists in Mexico who navigate repressive tactics and violence that put them in danger’s path in order to shed light on the injustices endured by their communities. Additional screenings include the short film “El Tesoro,” “Los Frikis” and the docu-series “De la Calle.
” Book readings and discussions include: Daisy Auger-Dominguez, author of “Inclusion Revolution: The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace;” Susie Jaramillo, author of “Little Chickies/Los Pollitos;” and Maria Elena Salinas and John Quiñones, Authors of “A Year in Uvalde. Saturday is Raizado Community Day at Aspen Meadows beginning at 10 a.m.
The festival offers a full day of community-focused programming that’s free and open to the public in addition to festivalgoers. The celebration will feature three boutique experiences focused on performances, panels and discussions, along with a culinary experience that showcases the history and culture behind emerging Latine food-and-beverage companies. Performing live on Saturday: Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Folklorico and DJ Jadaboo.
Also on tap: Grammy-nominee GUSI, a Colombian-Venezuelan singer and composer who is recognized for combining Colombian music such as vallenato and cumbia with Latin pop. There will be a Kids Corner from 11 a.m.
to 1:45 p.m. at the Resnick-Malek Health Center that includes a reading hub with Cánticos and Susie Jaramillo, kids movement with Cali Gonzales and art with Favianna Rodriguez.
To help make Saturday’s Community Day accessible to the community, The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority is waiving bus fees so people can attend the festival. Users need to show a QR code to the driver. The Q code is available at Raizado’s Instagram page “raizadofestival.
” Users can print, screen shoot or cut out the voucher and show it to the bus operator. RFTA will provide commuter bus services from Rifle to Aspen on Saturday between 7:30 a.m.
and 6 p.m. To reach the festivities at Aspen Meadows, services will be available at the Hallam and 8th bus stop in Aspen.
The walk is about 15 minutes between the bus stop and the festival grounds. Free rides are valid on all RFTA regional routes, including Hogback, BRT and the Roaring Fork Valley Local. Shuttles will be picking up people in the city of Aspen as well.
“We’re really trying to make sure that we can make this as accessible as possible and remove as many barriers as we can,” Ramirez said. “We know that it’s not always easy for people to come upvalley and downvalley, especially since there’s a cost associated. So we’re hopeful that that bus partnership will help with that.
I want the local folks who are working at the hotels and the restaurants and some of the other locations to understand that this festival is about them, and it’s for them. I hope that the people who are doing the hard work feel seen, feel valued.” When asked what she hopes attendees will take away from Raizado Festival, Ramirez said, “.
.. new relationships, the possibility of new partnerships, creating a bigger network.
I hope people will be able to meet and make magic together later. “I think that for folks who are local, I’m hopeful that on Sunday they'll feel like they have been able to deepen their own community connections, and that there is both a respect for the community members who really hold up Aspen and the surrounding area. Our hope is that people understand that it is not just a Latine festival, but it’s for everybody.
It’s really for everyone who appreciates our community and wants to celebrate our community.” For more information, visit raizadofest.org .
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