Applied Materials Supports Mexican Heritage Festival

To close out Hispanic Heritage Month, I thought I’d blog about the recent Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival held in San Jose, California. Honoring Latino culture and commemorating the centennial of Mexico's Revolution – the festival featured an impressive list of social and artistic revolutionaries with a long history of working to improve the way people live.

Highlights included a special celebrity tribute honoring legendary civil rights activist Dolores Huerta as a modern day "soldadera" on the occasion of her 80th birthday year. A special evening conversation with Ms. Huerta, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund President Thomas A. Saenz, and three members of the activist band Ozomatli was moderated by Richard Gonzales of National Public Radio.

The Festival opened with a performance from the acclaimed one man solo show “Gaytino!” produced by the Latino actor, writer, and producer Dan Guerrero.

Two weeks of special events featured Grammy winners Los Lobos, Intocable and others, a free community festival presenting acclaimed Latino urban, traditional and conjunto artists, and the opening of a blockbuster art exhibition featuring rare murals and paintings of the Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias, some not seen in the United States since 1939. The art exhibit, held at San Jose City hall, runs through February 2011.

Applied Materials is please to help support the work of the coordinating organization, the Mexican Heritage Corporation, as it educates young people and celebrates the art and culture of Mexico through the performing and visual arts — one of Applied’s philanthropic areas of focus.