Gainesville Showcasing Latin Artist

On October 18, I had the privilege of reporting on an event that took place at the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville. The Hippodrome Theatre is the only professional theatre in Gainesville, and it regularly hosts an event called ‘Basement Sessions’ where it showcases upcoming artists.

Although all of Hippodrome’s ‘Basement Sessions’ are special, this particular session was special for the Hispanic and Latin community of Gainesville. The event was designed to showcase artists of Latin and Hispanic backgrounds, and simply celebrate them.

When I moved to Gainesville from Orlando, I immediately felt a culture shock. In order for me to find a Hispanic community, I had to search for them, which wasn’t very common in Orlando.

After interviewing the artists at the event, it seemed as though they also felt that our community wasn’t celebrated enough in Gainesville. One particular artist, Lucia Morales, is a student at The University of Florida, who was selling her art for the first time at this particular event.

“Recently, in the past six months, a lot of people who have seen my art have asked me if I sell them, but I always say no, I kind of keep them for myself. Once people started telling me that I should start selling them, I was like ‘You know what, I’ll give it a try’.” said Morales.

When I asked her how it felt to be at the event as a Latina artist she said

“I think it’s really cool that they have a whole event to appreciate the Latin community because sometimes I feel like it might go noticed. Events like this make me feel like I can participate, because I am Latin, so I might as well.”

During my time there, I realized how important celebration and support are for a community, especially in a country where we have various ethnic groups. Attending this event made me feel appreciated, and I wasn’t even one of the artists there. I hope to continue attending events for the Hispanic and Latin community, and speaking to the participants on how they feel about the event and community.

The director of marketing, Isabella “Isa” Laura, was in charge of this event, and I have to say, she did a great job setting this event up. Not only is Isa making changes as a young Latin woman, but she is determined to make our community feel supported.

“I know there's a lot of Latinos and Hispanics here in Gainesville, and I know there's a very strong community within, but I feel like we’re not celebrated enough here, so I really wanted to bring the community together, and just celebrate music, art, and all creatives, especially from a Latino and Hispanic background and just come together and emerge audiences in one night,” said Laura.

Overall, I was very pleased to see how the event turned out, and I was especially happy to see the amount of people there to support the artist. The event was small but intimate, shared with families and friends. Most importantly, there was a huge percentage of people there who weren’t Hispanic, but they went to share their support and have a good time.