With the theme of inspiring communities and celebrating cultural heroes, this year’s FESTIBA will be filled with art exhibits, presentations, panels, performances and more.
The Festival of International Books and Art is a weeklong celebration that will last until Sunday and will host events on the Edinburg and the Brownsville campuses.
Dahlia Guerra, assistant vice president for Public Art, encourages university students and the community members to attend.
“It’s a great opportunity to be engaged with the university and, above all, teach our young students and their parents that it’s important to have good communication skills, good literacy skills,” Guerra said.
The celebration kicked off last Tuesday with the opening of the UTRGV School of Art Faculty Exhibition in the Art Gallery at Rusteberg Hall on the Brownsville campus and will continue until March 22.
Last Wednesday, the debut of the film, “Just a Ferry Ride to Freedom” took place in the Performing Arts Complex on the Edinburg campus.
More than 4,000 students in the Gaining Early Awareness and Reading for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) attended presentations by authors and scholars last Wednesday on the Brownsville campus and last Thursday on the Edinburg campus. The students will continue their visit on the Edinburg campus today through Wednesday.
Activities continue with the “Rock ‘N’ Roll’s Influence on Popular Culture” taking place at 10 a.m. today in University Library Instructional Classroom 1.118 and again at 10 a.m. Friday.
The presentation by John Ferris, a research and instruction librarian, will examine the music of the last 50 or 60 years and how music and the course of culture has changed along with it up to the present day.
“100 Women, 100 Words,” an exhibition from the South Texas College and Library Art Gallery honoring South Texas women from various backgrounds, will open at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in University Library Special Collections Room 2.202 on the Brownsville campus. The show is composed of several 6-by-6-inch canvases paired with a written piece.
“We gave each of [the participants] a little mini canvas,” said Gina Otvos, an Art Gallery associate. “They could do whatever they wanted–a painting, a collage, [or] a photograph. Next to it is a panel with their name and title and then a hundred words, either a hundred random words or their bio in a hundred words, a poem– anything.”
Some of the women chosen include local community leaders, activists, small business owners and mothers.
“My idea is that there are so many women that we have in the community … that really are unsung heroes,” STC Assistant Professor Patricia Ballinger said. “[They] have done a great deal to make our community rich in so many ways [by] caring for people, for their ideas, for their creativity, for just overcoming obstacles, creating things.”
The exhibit aims to showcase the wide array of accomplishments these women completed to the campus community as a whole.
“[Not] just as far as in art, but also in creating opportunities for other women and opening doors,” Ballinger said. “So this is what this exhibit is doing, giving them a voice through words, their own little art.”
Otvos, Ballinger and Hinovations Art Gallery Director Raquel Hinojosa will speak at the opening reception.
Special Collections Manager Milagro Resendez encourages students to attend the opening in order to gain inspiration from both the community leaders being featured and their art.
“The students [would be] more involved in culture and [would] be more inspired [when introduced] to these women because they’re professionals, they’re educators, they’re artists,” Resendez said. “They’re so many things, like, if they have goals, this could definitely be something that could motivate and educate them.”
The exhibit will remain on display until May 10.
“We’re trying to invite the community, the students, the staff, the faculty to come and join us for this event and be able to share this beautiful exhibit that is really a motivation and encouragement and educational to all of us,” she said.
On Thursday, ENGL 3351 undergraduate students will present their creative works in progress at 9:25 a.m. in Liberal Arts Building South 181 on the Edinburg campus.
Also on Thursday, a presentation and exhibit tour of “The Magic of Mariachi-La Magia del Mariachi” will take place on the third floor of the UTRGV Library on the Edinburg campus.
#Subculture will also be taking place as a part of FESTIBA.
It will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Edinburg City Grounds. Similar to the #Subculture event that took place in November, this event will have interactive workshops centered on art, music and innovation.
“#Subculture is a free community event in which students and local artists come together to showcase their work and develop an interactive environment through artistic workshops,” said Maria Garza Estrada, UTRGV Marketing and Communications assistant.
Some of these workshops include printmaking, engineering, computer science, drumming, virtual reality and selfie culture.
“So, we have five different workshops, they’re basically the same workshops that we had in November,” Estrada said. “We have those workshops, we have games, we have music, [and] we invite other UTRGV departments to join us like recruitment, Graduate College and the Chess Team last year.”
The program provides a hands-on experience, while also including technological aspects.
“They’re going to be able to learn about technology and robotics and printmaking and virtual reality, so I’m sure they’re going to have a great time,” she said. “It’s a time for them to have fun, to interact with other students and the community as a whole.”
