The 2022 festival theme, "Together We Rise," honors the spirit of healing, recovery, rebirth, and reconnection through the arts.  Santa Ana, California — the Boca de Oro Festival of Literary, Visual, Performing Arts & Culture returns for its sixth year with an exciting array of live performances, interactive workshops, engaging panel discussions, author talks, readings, and more. On Saturday, March 5, 2022, Boca de Oro will enliven the Historic Downtown District of Santa Ana with the theme of "Together We Rise," honoring the spirit of healing, recovery, rebirth, and reconnection through the arts amidst the pandemic. As a symbolic invitation to the community, the official illustration by Santa Ana's own Romina Ramirez features a phoenix rising from the collective work of community creators. It is a powerful and poignant reminder of the healing power of art and community. Over the years, Boca de Oro has brought together hundreds of authors and poets to share their creativity with the community, as well as performances by over 5,000 visual and performing artists. “In 2022 authors, poets, and artists will once again turn downtown into a vibrant hub of creativity, inspiring us with new life and love in the arts,” said Madeleine Spencer, literary festival co-founder. “What sets Boca de Oro apart is that while celebrating local, regional, and national voices, the festival is organized by the community for the community—it is a public expression of creativity that brings us together and continues to breathe life into our city,” Spencer says. “The pandemic has taught us about how much we desire the interactivity of social life, and there is no better way to do this than celebrating the arts as a community.”  Among the many authors and performers is keynote speaker and local Santa Ana author Marytza Rubio, whose Maria Maria & Other Stories is a book described by author Amber Sparks as a “startling, brilliant collection.” Another special guest is acclaimed artist Lezley Saar, a mixed-media artist and painter.  Her artwork deals with themes of identity, race, gender, beauty, normalcy, and sanity. She has exhibited around the world and is included in many museum collections such as CAAM and MOCA. Local journalist Julie Leopo will host a Q&A session with Jim Suero, son of the late Latino photographer Orlando Suero who chronicled the lives of stars from 1962 to the mid-1980s during the golden age of Hollywood.  The festival is also honored to welcome author Namrata Poddar, a first-generation Asian American writer, who will debut her novel Border Less, featured in The Millions “Most Anticipated" books for 2022. Namrata will be in conversation with Madhushree Ghosh for their theme “South Asians in Southern California and New Immigrant Writing.”   Downtown Santa Ana has its first visit by regional author Victor Villaseñor, an American writer best known for the national bestselling book, Rain of Gold.  Additionally, this year, the Mexican Consulate brings a special guest, flamencera Andrea Salcedo, the first female flamenco guitarist from Jalisco, Mexico and a performer who is considered an international reference by the newspaper El País.  The festival is also excited to welcome local author Greta Boris, the USA Today Bestselling author of the 7 Deadly Sins, which is a series of psychological suspense novels from Fawkes Press. Greta sets each of her engaging thrillers in the cities and communities of Orange County.  This year, there will be many opportunities to interact and engage with the arts. Festival organizer Steven Homestead invited this year’s presenters, “to imagine with us how poets, musicians, authors, dancers, artists, and community members alike can all come together to create a collective phoenix rising from the ashes.” Festival co-founder Robyn MacNair, Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for the Santa Ana Unified School District, shares “This year’s focus is bringing people together to heal through the arts. Students and families can raise their collective voices in art, song, and dance, making and bringing the community together out of the isolation they have been experiencing these past couple of years.” With an expected attendance of 7,000, many of whom are families with children, Boca de Oro also expands its programming with a K-5 Arts Festival at Birch Park, produced by Oasis Center International and other amazing community partners.  For more information on Boca de Oro please visit: bocadeoro.org, Facebook at facebook.com/bocadeorofest, or Instagram @bocadeorofest. ABOUT BOCA DE ORO FESTIVAL OF VISUAL, PERFORMING AND LITERARY ARTS & CULTURE Boca De Oro Festival of Visual, Performing and Literary Arts & Culture, “mouth of gold” curates diverse and evocative writers, poets, storytellers, and artists who present their work through literary readings, workshops, panel discussions, performances, poetry slams, spoken word styles, and both visual art and performance experiences. An expansion of the Downtown Santa Ana Art Walk led by Downtown Inc., Boca de Oro is a gift from Community Engagement with Santa Ana’s small businesses through the Santa Ana Business Council in partnership with Santa Ana Unified School District.
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 Despite broadcasting online-only during the pandemic, the DTSA First Saturday Artwalk is now back in full-swing on the streets of downtown each month. The Artwalk reappeared in August and has been happening each month since then with the biggest Artwalk of the year expected in November because of cross-collaborations with Viva la Vida and a Catrina Fest to celebrate Day of the Dead, plus the annual international Blading Cup skating event at the East End.   Most of downtown's art galleries survived the pandemic including AvantGarden Gallery. New galleries are also already making waves like Crear Studio, both located around 5th St and Broadway. Any trip to the Artwalk requires a pop-in at CSUF Grand Central Arts Center which has multiple galleries and a theatre which is home to the Wayward Artist theatre group.  Wendy Lopez and Maria "The Hot Tortilla" have been animating the 2nd St Artists Village Promenade with a diverse array of vendors and artists, musical performances and larger-than-life art installations. Pickup a map to the Artwalk at the DTSA Info Booth on the 2nd St Promenade and venture out to the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art and the Santora Building for the Arts, which has been popping-off in the basement to the roof.     Don't just hang out in the Artists Village, the Spurgeon Building (the one with the clocktower) has a special show by downtown-favorite, Matt Southgate at Anna Nalle Fine Art Gallery and Mimi Mar of The Pizza Press across the street would love you to stop by to admire her Day of the Dead altar.  It became a quick hit before the pandemic, and since it has been really heating up: Dancing in the Streets brings you a public square full of salsa dancing for hours on end during Artwalk. Start early for a lesson and you probably won't stop until they cut the lights!  We've only just scratched the surface of everything going on at Artwalk and one of my favorite things to do is to find a cozy place to grab a bite, especially on one of Downtown's new or classic al fresco dining patios like Lola Gaspar.  Enjoy the Artwalk, we'll see you next month!
Story by Ryan Smolar Photos by Brian Feinzimer, Ryan Smolar, Mimi Mar and Matty Slice  Boca de Oro Festival of Literary, Visual and Performing Arts is online this year with 100+ free performances and virtual sessions from March 5th-7th. Revelers of culture and enthusiasts of the arts will enjoy this year's open exploration of how we build our cities and lives through our collective memories, dreams and visions. Opening Night begins our explortion of these topics with 40+ local and regional voices in mediums of expression across the arts from writing to puppetry, and dance to author and artist talks. Attendees can sign-up free at BocaDeOro.org. After providing their name and e-mail address, they can choose from over 100 sessions occurring virtually online over the three day festival. Here's what's happening on Opening Night alone:                          Boca de Oro Festival of Literary, Visual and Performing Arts is online this year with 100+ free performances and virtual sessions from March 5th-7th. Revelers of culture and enthusiasts of the arts will enjoy this year's open exploration of how we build our cities and lives through our collective memories, dreams and visions. Day 2 features Keynote Pete Souza, a principle White House Photographer under President Obama and President Reagan. He will open our conversation with his "Eyewitness to History" observations on who we are as a country. Souza is the subject of the hit Netflix Documentary, "The Way I saw It" and his national voice will anchor the importance and timeliness of our community's discussion. Attendees can sign-up free at BocaDeOro.org. After providing their name and e-mail address, they can choose from over 100 sessions occurring virtually online over the three day festival. Here's what's happening on Day 2 alone:                                 Boca de Oro Festival of Literary, Visual and Performing Arts is online this year with 100+ free performances and virtual sessions from March 5th-7th. Revelers of culture and enthusiasts of the arts will enjoy this year's open exploration of how we build our cities and lives through our collective memories, dreams and visions. The festival will conclude on Sunday with "The Arc of Systemic Solidarity," a vision put forth by prophetic Haitian-American poet, Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The artist, citizen philosopher, educator and Vice President of Social Impact at the Kennedy Center will articulate how we collectively design a future of "inspiration for us all." Attendees can sign-up free at BocaDeOro.org. After providing their name and e-mail address, they can choose from over 100 sessions occurring virtually online over the three day festival. Here's what's happening on our Closing Day:                                             The City of Santa Ana Investing in the Arts Grant was given to Artwalk to hire local artists/performers like Calle 4 Cumbia in 2016 While it can feel like there's not enough good news these days -- it's great to take a moment and recognize the City of Santa Ana's small, but meaningful gesture to preserve the City's beloved Investing in the Arts Grant program despite widespread cuts in the City's 2020-2021 Budget which was finalized at the last City Council meeting on July 7th, 2020. A petition was circulated by local artist, Kimberly Duran and arts advocates Victor Payan and Sandra Pocha Pena, that laid out the problem and a plea for help: "For 5 years, the City of Santa Ana has invested in over 60 art projects all over the city funding over 100 local artists and art organizations. This annual grant benefits our residents in many ways, from Beautifying our Neighborhoods, increasing our Quality of Life and Feeding our Spirits with Poetry, Books, Free Concerts, Theater, Films & Cultural Events. Let this blossoming of our creative community continue as we celebrate the best Santa Ana has to offer!". All-in-all, Duran's petition gathered an astonishing 900 signatures in a very short time. Video thanking the City of Santa Ana for the 2016 Investing in the Arts Grant given to DTSA First Saturday Artwalk to hire local artists and performers Correspondence from local artists, community groups, business groups and institutions poured into the City and undoubtedly shed light on the importance of the arts to a variety of sectors. Tomas Benitez, a member of the consulting team that drafted the City of Santa Ana Arts and Culture Master Plan, wrote, "As I' m sure you are aware, there is a multiplier effect for public monies invested on the arts which returns 3 times the amount invested through purchases and expenses related to attendance at arts events. To date, Santa Ana has allocated $375, 000 towards the Investing in the Artists Grant. By means of this multiplier effect, that investment has generated $1.125 million real dollars that economically benefit both the City of Santa Ana and Santa Ana community as a whole. " Briana Harley, a local teaching artist and small business owner wrote, "Investing in the Arts grants are incredibly important to creating community jobs. I have personally paid multiple musicians and artists for events and programming that bring business to the city countless times." Madeleine Spencer, Executive Director of the Santa Ana Business Council wrote, "The arts are pivotal to the city of Santa Ana. It is this critical artistic talent in your community that will help this city move resiliently beyond crisis. It is this talent in the city that will eventually allow the next generation of Santaneros to build back up this city to become the city of their dreams."  At the final reading of the budget, Councilmembers, one-after-one announced their support for keeping the grants and also for supporitng the arts in general as an economic driver and important mental health outlet. Councilmember Penaloza said "When we're looking at things like cutting the arts grant, we have to consider the the artist grant program is an economnic driver for the City. It's used to activate dead space and bring in revenue and people. I would give up my discretionary art funds to provide at least 1 or 2 grants...I'm not much of an artist but I believe art leads to mental wellness. When I'm about to burst, I like doing a little improv or going to Michael's because it's therapeutic." Mayor Pulido went further and even advocated for future arts grants to have thier funds distributed upon award, as he had heard from the community that artists had trouble with the system of reimbursements that is currently in-place. City Manager Kristine Ridge made a presentation to City staff and responded to Council, "We will turn over every rock in order to find the $65,000 to restore the arts grant program." The next day, Kimberly Duran claimed victory for the arts on her highly-circulated petition page: "We did it !!! I would like to take a moment to thank all individuals who participated in signing and spreading the word to continue to fund the "Investing in Artist grant" for the City of Santa Ana 2020-2021 FY budget. We feel as artist it is important to voice and defend the significance Public Art has in our community and support these grant opportunities for future generations of Artist. We could not have done it without you! So thank you!" What's most exciting about the preservation of the arts grant is the rare coming together of so many artists, leaders and residents to save the grants and to state the importance of the arts. Let's hope the arts grants are well-utilized this year and that further coordination and organization of Santa Ana's creative sector continues. Story by Ryan Smolar
 The "Defend The Earth" digital art gallery is a eight-artist, thematic online gallery show curated as part of Santa Ana's participation in the global Placemake Earth movement to raise awareness between climate change and the power of our local communities to make change. Enjoy these artistic works by creatives in our city who are speaking to the ecological, social and psychological shifts imperative to building a climate resilient Santa Ana and world.   Untitled by Adriana Martinez  Scorched by Jonathan Martinez (9”x12” on Panel / Mixed Media / $550 )  Contaminated Playground by Federico Medina ( 16x20 / Print: $200 )  Organic Transformation by Manuel Cortez (palm frond sculpture)   SAVE EARTH by Gene Jimenez Artist Satement: The elephant is an endangered species, and whenever I paint elephants, I’m actually painting what I reference as ‘family’ since elephants also are family oriented species, stay connected to family members for life and respect their dead and elders by actually burying them and visiting their graves annually. The butterfly, for me, is transformation of the human spirit. Our willingness to do whatever it takes, even like the butterfly in that it actually dies during its own transformation to become a butterfly and fly. Both of these were designed into poster prints that were never used to promote saving the earth. In SAVE EARTH, we must address climate change as much as we value the lives of our own families and for that matter, our own selves. Be willing to transform ourselves, however uncomfortable and by any means necessary. We cannot disrespect our fore fathers who fought, died and worked endlessly to give us the world we have, only to destroy it out of our unwillingness to care for each other and ourselves. SAVE EARTH is saving art. We are saving creation itself. No other creation is more wondrous on the planet than the planet itself. The planet has NO PROBLEM being creative. It is we who are the issue. We are in the way of its creativity and lest we be ignorant, it will find a creative way to continue its journey, with our without us. It always does.  Let Us Fly by Denise Moritz ($550 framed in black or $400 without)  La MamaPacha by Alicia Rojas / Santa Ana Community Artist(a) Coalition The "Defend The Earth" digital art gallery was one of 27 actions taking place in 14 countries as part of the Placemake Earth challenge. Through the PlacemakingUS network, our local efforts were connected to similar community-driven projects in New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Mexico, Norway and beyond. Defend the Earth Gallery curated by Madeleine Spencer and Ryan Smolar
Contact Artists Directly for Sales Inquiries  “Change has to begin with us as individuals. Art can be used as a tool to empower people to believe that we can bring about that change within our own capacity.” |
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