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The Garcia Center for the Arts in San Bernardino will be the site of a two-day event celebrating the Black histories and futures when it focuses on Mexico’s Afro descendants, and specifically its Afro-Oaxacan arts and culture.

The free event will take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25-26, at the center, located at 536 W. 11th St. in San Bernardino and is the first of a series leading up to the Cal State San Bernardino Anthropology Museum’s upcoming exhibition, Afróntalo, which will celebrate history, heritage, culture, communities and identities, focusing on the Afro-descendants in Mexico and the Afrolatine Californians. The exhibit is scheduled to open in September.

Featured both days will be:

  • Live artisan demonstrations with Esteban Zúñiga and the opportunity for “hands on” community creations to embody the magic of Afrocultures in crafting folkloric turtle and bull structures from Costa Chica’s Day of the Dead festivities
  •  The photo exhibition “Ébano” by Nicolás Triedo, featuring 35 black and white images from Costa Chica
  • Videos from Somos Negros de la Costa
  • Afro-Oaxacan music, performed by Academia Maqueos (Saturday) and Los Guajes (Sunday), noon-2 p.m. 
  • Artwork from Raíz de la Ceiba and the option to send messages to the young artists
  • Oaxacan food and drinks, while it lasts!

This event is made possible by grants from California Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, with sponsors the Garcia Center for the Arts, the Consulate of Mexico in San Bernardino, the CSUSB Black History Month Planning Committee, the CSUSB Office of the Provost, the CSUSB Center for Global Innovation, and the CSUSB Anthropology Museum.

Event flyer.