After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the Latino Art Fair returns to Overture Center for the Arts this weekend.
The free event will feature 15 visual artists of Latino heritage with works for sale, as well as more music this year in the form of the youth mariachi ensemble from the Milwaukee-based Latino Arts Strings Program from Milwaukee. The group has performed everywhere from the White House to the Wisconsin State Capitol Martin Luther King Day celebration.
Visual artists will include painters, photographers, jewelry makers, tile makers and more.
The Latino Art Fair will run from 4-6 pm and is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a mainstage concert by Mariachi Herencia de Mexico, with tickets starting at $25.
The event was launched by the Dane County Latino Chamber of Commerce, but the now-statewide organization is handing it off to a new organization, Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development, or LOUD.
“People tell me I’m too loud,” said organizer Oscar Mireles, the former City of Madison Poet Laureate and longtime leader in Madison’s arts community. “Now I have proof that I’m too loud sometimes.”
Mireles said the Latino Chamber has built a good foundation for the annual celebration of Latino arts.
“Under (Latino Chamber President) Jessica (Cavazos’) leadership, the partnership with Overture having a concert afterwards, those are things that Jessica put into place,” Mireles said. He added that the Latino Chamber of Commerce has recently received significant state grant money to expand its services to Latino business owners, and handing off the art fair will allow focus on those core functions.
Mireles said the annual art fair is “a chance to share. Share food, share music, share culture.”
More information is available at the Overture Center website.
