UTRGV celebrated the Festival of International Books and Arts (FESTIBA) Feb. 25 through Sunday with events including art and writing panels, exhibits and presentations.
Dahlia Guerra, UTRGV’s assistant vice president of public art, said the event is 12 years old. This year’s theme was Inspiring Communities: Celebrating Cultural Heroes.
“There are certain, I would say, high points within the events, one of those being GEAR UP days, where we bring GEAR UP students onto campus and show them different presentations to inspire them, to be creative, to understand the value of reading and writing,” Guerra said. “That’s the main focus with the GEAR UP kids, just get them college ready and open up your creative skills.”
She said another high point is the Reading Rock Stars Program, which is a collaboration with the Texas Book Festival. Authors are sent to six public schools. Each school has at least two authors.
The nine authors who were part of the Reading Rock Stars Program last Friday were Peter Reynolds, author of “Say Something”; John Scieska, author of “Math Curse”; Jennifer Torres, author of “Flor and Miranda Steal the Show”; Cecilia Cruz, author of “A Gift from Abuela”; Steven Weinberg, author of “You Must Be This Tall”; Julissa Arce, author of “Someone Like Me”; Rafael Lopez, author of “Whole World in Our Hands”; Tony Piedra, author of “The Greatest Adventure”; and Marcus Emerson author of “Ben Braver.”
“One author presents to little bitties and then another author to a little bit older kids. Every child in the school gets a book that’s signed by the author, and they get it in their hands and the little kids see their book and they’re so grateful to get their book,” Guerra said.
A third high point, she said, are the faculty presentations.
“Faculty submit their presentations … and all week long there is a different presentation every day,” Guerra said. “And so, you can see what the faculty are interested in, and what they’re studying, what they’re researching.”
She said it is important because it lets students see what faculty are doing.
Photography and expressive arts Lecturer Marilyn Carren is one of UTRGV’s faculty members who gave a presentation during FESTIBA titled “Comics and Mental Health, Helping Hearts and Minds Using Narrative Forms.”
“Expressive arts is actually not art therapy, but it’s kind of related to art therapy,” Carren said. “Expressive arts is different in that we use the tools of art to let people express themselves but we don’t tell them what they’re feeling.”
She said it helps access new and nontraditional ways to help people feel better.
“I personally think that social media has brought in this new wave of poor mental health,” Carren said during the lecture, which took place last Tuesday on the Edinburg campus. “People are anxious about what they’re posting, they’re nervous about how they look, they are depressed if they don’t get enough likes. And so, I think it’s causing a big, big problem.”
Carren said the good news is that if people can reimagine their narratives, they can get out of their shells and create new lives. She listed several apps including Morfo Booth, Autorap, Garage Band, WordFoto, Juztaposer, 8mm HD and Samplr as helpful.
“It’s amazing the worlds we can create,” she said.
A community festival at the Edinburg City Hall grounds was celebrated last Friday evening as part of FESTIBA.
On Saturday, a mariachi competition and concert was held at the Performing Arts Complex on the Edinburg campus.
FESTIBA ended Sunday with the UTRGV Dance Adjudication Festival and the Gala Concert.
