Musician and Associate Professor of Chicanx-Latinx Studies at Scripps College, Martha Gonzalez is bringing her art activism to an LBCC virtual event. Tomorrow, Thursday at 12:00pm to 1:30pm, students can learn about her book “Chican@ Artivistas.”
A Chicana is a woman/girl with Mexican origin or descent. “Artivistas” is a play-on word of “art” and “activists” in Spanish.
Gonzalez said she was motivated to write this book during her doctoral program at the University of Washington. She has built off of the Chicano activism in East Los Angeles that began in the 1960’s. Her scholarly interests are fueled by her active role as a music practitioner.
She is also a Grammy Award-winning musician with the East Los Angeles rock band, Quetzal.
Through collective songwriting, she intends to bring political change to the forefront of her community.
Gonzales said her goal is to change the way people view music. Gonzalez grew up with the understanding that music can be solely seen as a commodity. She noticed the patterns of how some artists use music for social justice but with no action.
“Rarely do we see music as a way to form dialogue and community,” she said.
Over time, transnational community experiences have helped inform her work.
“You can sell revolution and put a barcode on it. What never ends is the process and the way to be,” said Gonzalez, responding to examples such as artists making a song or selling merchandise for a cause but taking no further action to help.
The goal with her book, “Chican@ Artivistas,” is to change the way people view music.
“Being creative is important. I want to spark an appetite in people to unite their community through music,” she said.
Through her music she has worked to transform and rebuild various sectors of communities in East L.A. One of those sectors is a community land trust. She does so by bringing dialogue through music.
For example, she is working with Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL), a community land trust initiative in East LA. According to their Facebook page, they are an organization that is, “fighting for the right to secure housing that is dignified, affordable & controlled by the residents of Boyle Heights/ELA.”
“We will write a song about our movement and think about how we want our future to look like with land and housing. It’s not just about writing the song but the process it takes to get there, meaning the kinds of dialogue and envisioning we do together are informative and transformative,” said Gonzalez about her songwriting.
Linda Olmos, Interim Student Equity Manager at LBCC said, “One thing I want students to get from this is that there is no one way to be an activista. There is no one way to be out there in the frontlines. There is so much going on in society, and students can be and do community organizing with their own talent, whether that is through music like Dr. Gonzalez.”
Students interested in tuning in to the LBCC led webinar can visit the LBCC Upcoming Events calendar and click on, “Chican@ Artivitistas at the Intersection of Hope and Imagination.” A zoom link is already provided on the event page.
Readers or fans of her work can tune into her online virtual book launch party series. Check out the link here.
