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Page last updated on May 15, 2019 at 10:11 am

Welcome to the 2nd annual Black y Brown Arts Festival!  I’m Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton. Happy to see you out tonight on this beautiful spring evening. Are you ready for some GREAT music??

It’s the second year of the Black y Brown Festival!  Thanks to the work of all the folks who put this event together -- The City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department, Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs, Safe and Civil City Program, Bloomington Arts Commission, and Economic and Sustainable Development Department, and all the partners who have brought this festival to life.  

Black y Brown has blossomed in a single year from a one-day affair to this three-day showcase at three different locales -- inside the Waldron galleries Friday night, and up at the Banneker Community Center all day on Saturday, out here on Fourth Street right now.  Bloomington is an art and music multiplier!

This stretch of Fourth Street in particular has some pretty good live music cred --  from WFHB street parties -- to sounds from around the world, performed right here during the Lotus Festival.  

Tonight, we’ll be enjoying some home-grown sounds!  And in case we think we know what “home-grown” sounds like, tonight is sure to update that notion.  Because those of us who call Bloomington home have diverse origins, that find diverse cultural expressions.

So what’s really meaningful about this festival is the way it expands our sense of identity:  what we talk about when we talk about being from Bloomington.  

Alright, enough talk!  I am thrilled to present the first of five acts performing tonight. Although they travel throughout Central America, Mexico and the United States, Matixando comes from Bloomington.   

Founded in 2011 by David Dávila González in Costa Rica, Matixando draws inspiration from love, peace, nature and daily life, and the people and places that have contributed to their musical development. Their aim is to create a platform for more artists to express their art and get involved in their communities.  And where better to do that than at the Black y Brown Arts Festival, which shares that mission!

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for Matixando !

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