Live painting, capoeira, music, and more, as Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre hosts Fiesta Plural
Performers from Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, and beyond bring diverse traditions to Vancouver Mural Festival’s Mount Pleasant Street Party
Las Empanadas Ilegales.
Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre presents Fiesta Plural on August 11 at the Vancouver Mural Festival’s Mount Pleasant Street Party
THE LATIN AMERICAN population in Canada has been surging lately, with more than 1.1 million people making up the country’s Spanish-speaking population—about 51,000 of whom live in Metro Vancouver. What Lili Vieira de Carvalho, executive director of the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre, wants people to see is the vast multiplicity that exists within the demographic.
“The diversity is incredible,” the Rio de Janeiro native tells Stir in a phone interview. “When I was in Brazil I would never be in the same room as eight or 10 people from different parts of Latin America. We have an opportunity here in Canada to express our Latin American-ness and be exposed to each other. We want people to see and learn about this scene of Latin American art, because it really adds up to a scene.”
One way arts lovers can get their fill of all things Latin American is by checking out the 2024 Vancouver Mural Festival. In the first collaboration of its kind, VLACC is curating and hosting Fiesta Plural, a day-long event at the fest’s Mount Pleasant Street Party on August 11 that showcases young and upcoming Latinx artists who specialize in dance, music, and visual art.
For an idea of the diversity on display, consider participating band Las Empanadas Ilegales. Its members trace their roots to Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, and they blend everything from jazz to psychedelic surf to salsa in their music. Another act, Dayshade, performs in Spanish, French, and English, with nationalities from Colombia, Guyana, Mexico, the U.K., and Canada. Singer-songwriter-pianist Mai Garnica melds rock with Argentine folk and Latin sounds. Peruvian-Canadian DJ and sound artist Millie Wissar explores the rhythms of Latin bass and experimental techno with influences from cumbia, salsa, and Andean beats. Brazilian singer-songwriter Sara Magal fuses samba, bossa nova, forró, jazz, and other styles in her music.
Those are just some of the 30 artists VLACC is presenting at this year’s Vancouver Mural Fest. Other creatives making up Fiesta Plural include Irvin Hernandez, who hails from Zacatecas, Mexico, and who will be doing live painting; Brazilian dance artist Ysadora Dias, who has trained in ballet, contemporary dance, and capoeira; and MNGWA (pronounced ming-wa), a party band that mixes cumbia and salsa with psych rock, reggae, funk, and more and whose members come from Canada, Mexico, Chile, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Japan. Then there’s Te Quiero LatinX, whose goal is to bring the Latin community together through roller skating.
VLACC will be presenting artists on the VMF’s Main Stage and all female performers on the Oasis Stage, including Colombian musician Yesenia Flórez, dancer Dias, and DJ Wissar.
Lili Vieira de Carvalho.
De Carvalho says VLACC is grateful to have the opportunity to be part of VMF, in part because it doesn’t have its own performance space, something it is working toward and fighting for via the City of Vancouver.
“With the mural fest, it makes a lot of sense working with them because we want to reach this demographic of [ages] 20 to 40,” de Carvalho says. “It’s kind of a natural fit and they have an executive director who is Latin American; Miriam [Esquitín] is from Mexico. I love working with them.”
Also happening at Vancouver Mural Fest on August 11 is a Brazilian musical parade by TROPA, a non-governmental organization based in Rio de Janeiro that focuses on empowering marginalized people in that city and on creating Canada-Brazil connections through music, art, and celebration.
“‘Latin America’ is such a fluid concept,” de Carvalho says. “Sometimes people include the Caribbean, sometimes they don’t. It can be anywhere from 20 to 32 countries. But the arts are a language that we all speak. We are using art as conversation.” 
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