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Celebrate the arts with �VivaFest! 

From a thriving education partnership to a new fundraising campaign that provides instruments to school children, we're all about improving lives through education, music and dance.

 

Estimados,

  

Watch children singing and dancing their hearts out, and you know the arts are wonderful for the soul. Our collaboration with the San Jose Unified School District ("SJUSD") provides a culturally relevant, bilingual, curriculum-based mariachi education curriculum from elementary through high school to several school sites in San Jose and something more: the knowledge, tools, and inspiration to succeed -- academically and in life. It is also aligned with the International Baccalaureate curriculum -- the only program of its kind in California.

 

Learning music requires focused attention, abstract, relational thinking and what scholars call "fluid intelligence" -- that is, the general ability to think abstractly, reason, identify patterns, solve problems, and discern relationships. �VivaFest! provides vital support for music education through funding and by providing qualified music educational professionals to several schools in San Jos�.    

 

Our mariachi music education program gives students the chance to sing, dance and play the trumpet, guitar, vihuela and guitarr�n, while learning about the history of our common heritage with M�xico. We manage and implement mariachi music education at Horace Mann and Anne Darling elementary schools, Burnett Middle School and San Jos� High School, and we work collaboratively with existing programs at Lincoln High and Hoover Middle School. The team at SJUSD are dedicated, professional and committed to quality education for all. It's an honor to team up with so many talented people.

 

Excellence on the stage leads to excellence in the classroom. Want to learn more? Watch our video "Mariachi Dreams."

 

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First graders all dressed up for mariachi education.
 

 

 

[image: High school students in the mariachi program]
Our high school mariachi students enjoying the program.
  

 

High honors for Los Lupe�os

 

Speaking of excellence, we're thrilled to announce that our friends Los Lupe�os de San Jos� have been nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award, also known as an Izzy. These prestigious awards are given annually in San Francisco to single out top creative companies and individuals in nine categories. Los Lupe�os is nominated for outstanding achievement in performance for its "Alma de Mexico" folklorico performance here at the Mexican Heritage Plaza theater. Watch an excerpt from the show below.

 

[video: Los Lupe�os de San Jos�]
Los Lupe�os de San Jos� performing at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

 

 

Sing the School House Electric

 

A new musical instrument can make a child light up, and we were fortunate enough to just see that happen 30 times! Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor and the Packard Foundation, we were able to purchase 30 guitars for our middle school music class.

 

[image: Students playing guitars]
Our students learn concentration and patience along with musical skills.

 

This was such a great experience that we don't want to stop there. We know that not having access to instruments is often what keeps children from unlocking their musical ability. So, through Fundrazr, we're launching a new fundraising campaign called Sing The School House Electric. Our goal is to raise enough funds to double our inventory of guitars, to buy violins and to provide support for our dedicated staff.

 

You can learn more on our Fundrazr pageJoin us in our campaign as we help even more children reap all the advantages of music education, from confidence and cooperation to cultural growth!

 

Saludos,

Marcela

 

 

Funding for the Mexican Heritage Corporation and its programs such as �VivaFest! and Los Lupe�os de San Jos� is provided in part through: a grant from the Office of Cultural Affairs of the City of San Jos�, and from The San Jos� Arena Authority, The National Endowment for the Arts, The TomKat Charitable Trust, The Hewlett Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Union Bank Foundation, Wells Fargo Bank, Mundo Fox, earned revenue from �VivaFest! and from readers like YOU. THANK YOU. To learn more about all of our generous donors please visit www.vivafest.org/sponsors. 

   

 

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About Mexican Heritage Corporation
The mission of the Mexican Heritage Corporation is to affirm, celebrate, and preserve the rich cultural heritage of the Mexican Community and showcase multicultural arts within the region.
 

 

Mexican Heritage Corporation 
Marcela Davison Avil�s
President and CEO
More Information: 877-MHC-VIVA