FLORICANTO is our annual event that takes place during Chicano/a History Week. It is an evening full of food, music, art, and poetry. During this year's Floricanto, Alianza fundraised about $20,000 to pay for the five murals that currently reside in the Cesar Chavez Lounge in Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall.
Here we see Margarita Banda and Diana Derige welcoming everyone to our event. Later, during the event, we were even visited by our university President Mr. Lee Bollinger. (Kinda shows you the clout that Alianza has on campus, don't it.)
El Mariachi Michicano were the first to start off the afternoon. They played a selection of traditional Mexican songs. In the foreground we can see the artist of the murals, Mr. Jeff Abbey Maldonado, sitting alongside our featured poet, Brenda Cardenas.
This is a picture of our Diag board for the event...
and here we find the Tree Banner that was placed in the Diag for the entire University to see. The letters for this banner were drawn by Ms. Edith Pauley.
People chilling while the poets read. After eating a good dinner, it's time to digest and lend your ear to the poets who have something to say. We can see Du Charm, Diana, Melanie, Lucy, and Beniquez.
Finally, we see the main mural that was unveiled at Floricanto. This particular one shows a tribute to Cesar Chavez, as well as a UFW timeline. Included in the mural are also Dolores Huerta and several other movimiento leaders. Pictured here are the two MC's for the evening, Margarita Banda and Diana Derige. The happy smiling man in the middle is our artist from Chicago, IL, Mr. Jeff Maldonado.