Hispanic / Latino Heritage Festival
Thursday, October 8th
12:00pm – 4:00pm
Rain Date: 10/15/26
PCCC Cultural Wellness Courtyard on the PCCC Campus at
170 Van Houten St. Paterson, NJ (College Boulevard)
FREE ADMISSION * ALL ARE WELCOME
Join us for our first outdoor celebration of Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month, open to the whole community!!
EVENT SCHEDULE
12:00 – 12:45 pm Viva Vallenato Cumbia band
1:00 – 1:45 pm Los Cimarrones Bomba y plena drumming/dancing
2:00 – 2:45 pm Ecuadorian musician Pepe Santana + his musicians
3:00 – 4:00 pm Mariachi Los Potrillos de David Yeins
12 NOON – 4:00 PM
Art & Dance Demos by Colombian visual artist Fabian Mira and Ecuadorian folk musician/dancer Veronica Killawawa
Hidden Pastures Petting Zoo invites everyone to meet and greet two alpacas in the shady section of the courtyard.
Special Film Screening of a short Puerto Rican educational film “Twin Tongues,” which explores Puerto Rican identity and the relationship between Spanish and English. The screening, followed by a discussion, will be to a Paterson high school Spanish class. Time/ Location: The Hamilton Club (seminar or reading room) sometime between noon and 1:00. Students will attend the festival afterwards and enjoy the Puerto Rican Bomba music beginning at 1 p.m.
Food & Drink can be purchased from on-site food trucks.
Festival Presenters
Fabian Mira
is a Colombian-born artist who creates work that is spiritual and transformative. Trained at Escuela Popular De Arte in Medellin, Colombia, the Escuela de Diseno Tecnologico, and the Art Students League in New York, Fabian has exhibited his unique work several times at the Broadway Gallery at PCCC and also exhibits throughout the NY/NJ metropolitan area.
Verónica Killawawa
is a multidisciplinary Peruvian artist and Andean musician who shares and reimagines her cultural traditions into her community through art and cultural expression. At the Festival, she will engage students and the public in a demonstration of Peruvian music and dance.
Hidden Pastures
is a luxury fiber farm in Branchville, NJ.Home to a herd of treasured fiber livestock, the farm provides products featuring alpaca, angora, cashmere, llama, mohair, Teeswater and the fibers for arts and crafts.
Los Cimarrones
is a NJ-based Afro-Puerto Rican percussion and dance ensemble founded and directed by master drummer Nelson Baez and co-directed by dancer Magda Baez. Specializing in authentic traditional Bomba and Plena, they aim to engage and build community with the audience while educating about their music and dance tradition.
Mariachi Los Potrillos de David Yeins
has been sharing the beauty, passion, and rich traditions of Mexican Mariachi Music for over 25 years. Based in New York, they have performed on Univision and Telemundo and are winners of a Mariachi Festival at Disney World (Florida). They strive to keep the exciting Mariachi tradition alive and vital.
Pepe Santana and Gruppo Inkhay
Ecuadorian folk musician Pepe Santana leads Gruppo Inkhay, which he founded in New York in 1984. In the native language Quechua, Inkhay means “to tend the fire”. The name was chosen to symbolize their commitment to keep alive, expose, and spread the beautiful music of the Andes Mountains, reflecting their inherited tradition.
Viva Vallenato Cumbia Band
is based in the New York/New Jersey area and plays traditional Colombian vallenato (storytelling songs) and cumbia dance rhythms that contain the cultural memory of a people with roots in Africa, Native America, and Europe. They invite everyone to come and dance.
Check back for updates on Festival performers and activities!
THIS PROGRAM IS FUNDED BY THE LEVITT FAMILY FOUNDATION AND THE FOLKLIFE CENTER OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY, A PROJECT OF PASSAIC COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND THE NEW JERSEY STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS, A PARTNER AGENCY OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.