Mariachi in the schools 

Another year's festival may be over, but we haven't slowed down. It's a busy fall for us, and we're back to school with a full schedule of teaching the heritage music of our community in San Jose's public schools.

What exactly is "mariachi education"? Our work is part of the San José Mariachi Music Education Collaborative, which is an innovative, research-based music education intervention program for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. It's a unique standards-based system that combines the teaching of Mexico's culturally relevant heritage music with a rigorous trans-disciplinary curriculum. We seek to improve students' academic achievement and help them achieve personal growth.

The arts instruction is done within the International Baccalaureate curriculum, which is aligned with both California state standards and those of the Consortium of National Arts Education. Professional mariachi musicians team up with credentialed teaching staff to instruct our students.

We have a full schedule at Burnett Middle School providing instruction in mariachi five days a week, and double classes three days a week at San José High Academy. We are also teaching at Horace Mann Elementary providing classes after school.

Want to learn more? Check out the video documentary on our youth-education programs by going to our website at vivafest.org.

Two of the young students in our mariachi-education program.

Join our mission

¡VivaFest! wouldn't be complete without education -- passing on the arts and teachings of our culture is central to our mission. We're hugely proud of the quality of our educational programs. But we need you to help keep that quality the highest it can be.

Please consider assisting us in our educational mission by donating to our Fall Pledge Drive. We are seeking funds to support the purchase of musical instruments and uniforms, and to help us expand our hours of instruction. In addition, we're raising funds to expand our curriculum into additional school sites. We have a fall pledge goal of $20,000.

Watch the video below to see one of our favorite ¡VivaFest! artists, singer and songwriter Lila Downs, talking about the importance of music education. 

Singer-songwriter Lila Downs speaks on the importance of music education.

The first 25 donors of $25 will receive as our thank you a 2014 commemorative poster created exclusively for ¡VivaFest! by internationally renowned Latina visual artist Virginia Olivares! Many of you may remember Virginia's beautiful work for our first festival poster:    

Click below for information on how to donate. Thank you! 

Reflections on Latino leadership

Lastly, we'd like to share with you a few reflections on Latino leadership. I recently wrote an op-ed piece for the San José Mercury News asking the question "Today, who carries the flag for our Latino community?"

The flag bearer is us. Across the nation, Latinos everywhere are creating change for the common good. Click the image below to read about many inspiring examples of today's leaders.

Thank you for all the leadership and inspiration you contribute to our community! 

Saludos,

Marcela