CSUMB’s College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Music Program in the Visual Arts & Music Department (formerly known as Performing & Visual Arts), welcomes Palenke Arts to campus to proudly present "Un Poema de Amor para la Comunidad/A Love Poem for Our Community," a celebration of the immigrant spirit through music, dance and film. It will feature a performance by Grammy-nominated band Los Cenzontles and Ghostly Labor, a dance film by La Mezcla and ballet folklórico students from Palenke Arts. The event will also present the opportunity to obtain a signed copy of Eugene Rodriguez's brand-new book "Bird of Four Hundred Voices: A Mexican American Memoir of Music and Belonging." There will be resource tables from community and campus organizations that provide support for our comunidad migrante.

Los Cenzontles has pioneered revivals of Mexican roots music in California cultivating traditional rhythms to connect generations. Interpreting traditional, classic, and original songs in their own voices, Los Cenzontles captures the depth, clarity, and living spirit of our heritage with dignity and care.  The band has performed across the United States, Mexico, Cuba, the UK, and the Dominican Republic, sharing the beauty of their Mexican roots all over the world through their media productions. The group’s members were trained at their Cultural Arts Academy and have worked with many Mexican folk musicians and diverse renowned artists as well.

Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film explores the history of labor in the US–Mexico borderlands through Tap Dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro Caribbean movement, and music. This work brings together polyrhythmic movement and an original score to look at the (ongoing) years of systemic exploitation of labor, while highlighting the power and joy of collective resistance. Based on farmworker interviews in California, this excerpt honors the sacred hands that feed us, and was filmed on a farm with support from Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS), a non-profit advocacy organization for farmworkers in Half Moon Bay, CA. A full-length dance theater production of Ghostly Labor premiered in 2023.

Palenke Arts is a multicultural arts organization whose mission is to educate, inspire and transform the community of Seaside through the arts. Our organization was founded in 2015 by a committed group of artists, educators and community members who recognized the urgent need for multicultural arts and music programs and events in the city of Seaside, especially for the youth, and envisioned the creation of a vibrant, safe and inclusive home for the arts in our town that would benefit all of Monterey County.  For more information, visit palenkearts.com.