PUBLISHED ON January 23, 2009
Yakima Herald-Republic
by MELISSA SANCHEZ YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Why might an alt-country/folk singer from Austin, Texas, who plays the fiddle appeal to young Latinos here?
Because her name suggests a story they can identify with.
Yet when Carrie Rodriguez performed at The Seasons last week, she drew a crowd of mostly white, older music lovers.
The low turnout among Latinos illustrates some of the challenges that arts promoters face as they use marketing, event scheduling and even building public spaces to encourage diversity downtown.
As vibrant as downtown has become in recent years, audiences at cultural events here remain predominantly white. Recognizing this, some in the arts community are now looking at bicultural, second-generation Latinos as a bridge between the Mexican immigrant and Anglo communities.
That's a tough demographic to reach because they don't necessarily gather in one place or listen to one radio station. They float between two worlds and are often bilingual.
"What do they want? We haven't gone out and asked those questions and met with bilingual residents of the Valley between the ages of 20 and 40," said Jessica Moskwa, executive director of Allied Arts of Yakima. "If you come from somewhere, do you want to consume really American things or things that remind you of the place your parents came from?"
Ellie Strosahl, who coordinates marketing for The Seasons, scratched her head about how best to promote Rodriguez' story.
"She's not playing 'Latina' music but she's a Latina. She can apply to our generation -- people trying to do things their own way while at the same time valuing and understanding their own culture," Strosahl said. "But it's hard for me to translate that in marketing and advertising."
In the end, Strosahl advertised the Jan. 15 concert on one English-language rock station and relied on word-of-mouth advertising and an e-mail to the International Women's Association of Yakima for the rest.
Rodriguez herself says she's never billed as a Latina singer -- even though she dreams of producing an all-Spanish album one day. After all, her musical roots come from her father's side of the family -- particularly a great-aunt named Eva Garza who once sang famous "bolero" love ballads in 1950s Mexico.
"I was the only kid from my neighborhood with a Spanish last name that I knew," said Rodriguez, who is 30 and learned Spanish as an adult. "It was a little strange growing up in Austin. The town is so divided. One side of the highway is mostly Anglo. The other side is where Mexican-Americans and African-Americans live."
That's something that David Blancas Valdivia, a 24-year-old from Mexico City, understands.
He sees Yakima -- where he's lived half his life -- as a divided city, too. But the barriers aren't put up by just one side, he said. He sees both the Anglo and Mexican immigrant communities walling themselves off to what's unfamiliar.
"Many people identify with the music they listen to, and sometimes are so wrapped up in their roots -- because they listened to Norteño music in their hometowns they want to continue listening to it here," said Blancas Valdivia, a percussionist who DJs at local clubs. "But if you don't leave the community you build around yourself here, you might never expand your ideas or tastes."
That's why he was pleased when he heard Rodriguez would play downtown.
"Whenever there is something at The Seasons you get all these jazz groups and all that, and obviously a lot of people go to it. A Latina artist is not very common," said Valdivia, who slips seamlessly in conversation from English to Spanish within the same sentence. "For people like me, if we hear about someone like Carrie Rodriguez -- that's something different that we would want to listen to. She's a Latina, and I support Latino culture in general."
Some recent attempts to draw Latinos downtown, such as a New Year's salsa event at The Seasons, have been successful. At Allied Arts last spring, diverse crowds attended a Latin American film festival launched soon after Moskwa became its executive director.
Meanwhile, the Capitol Theatre's marketing effort to reach Latinos is less about culturally specific shows and more about building long-term relationships between Yakima and Morelia -- the capital of Michoacán, the home state of many of this Valley's Mexicans.
It's a commitment seen in the theater's plans for expansion, modeled after the colonial Mediterranean architecture and plaza found in Morelia.
"What we have done is taken a step back and worked with the Hispanic community, the Mexican community, in trying to create an environment of honor and respect," said CEO Steven Caffery. "We're looking at broader values and how we can set foundations for the future."
Of course, it will take time to ease the reluctance of many Latinos to come downtown, said third-generation Mexican-American Daniel DeSiga, an artist who organizes downtown's Day of the Dead festivities. (Which, by the way, attract few Latinos, he said.)
There are deep and complicated reasons -- from financial and language barriers to fear of deportation and racism -- that the reluctance exists, DeSiga said. He echoes what many stress is the need for more Latinos to be involved in the conversation, "but not just in a token way."
For now, DeSiga looks at young, professional and educated second-generation Mexicans as the first group that needs to be reached. And he makes it a point to offer workshops and gallery space to young people from immigrant families.
"Art is a way of connecting with these kids," he said. "It has to do with self-pride and identity."
