ACES // Artists of Color Expo & Symposium 2023

The "How We Became Latina Artist in Central Washington ft. Yakima" presentation will be a panel of five Latina artists across Yakima Valley. The panel will include different types of Latina artists from the valley who have different practices and work in different areas of the art world. The presentation will be about how each Latina became an artist and will include an open discussion between the members of the panel. Location has been a large part of the involvement of each of the Latina artists in the panel, we will be going into depth about what it is like to live in agricultural towns and how it has affected our practice. The challenges we have faced and the beautiful moments that we have been able to see in the Yakima Valley art scene as of late.

The presentation will start with a land acknowledgment of Yakima Valley which was stolen land from the Yakama Nation people. The panel will explain Central Washington and what exactly Yakima Valley is. Yakima is a town where the majority of its population majority is not white American as of the recent 2020 census. Yakima Valley has the largest Latine population in Washington state. Each artist has a connection to Yakima Valley and will have time dedicated to them to present their work. Every artist on the panel has their own story of living in Yakima valley with valuable knowledge and experiences. Each artist has carved themselves into the art scene and has impressive achievements in their practice. Throughout the presentation, we will talk with each other about our challenges, similarities, and differences. The presentation's goal is to begin a dialogue about artists in rural Washington and how an artist can come from different backgrounds. The main focus of the presentation is to give insight to the audience about how artists' lives differ and how collaboration can make a community thrive.

A big part of the presentation is to get the audience's participation. The last half of the presentation encourages questions from the audience. We have set aside a big portion of the presentation to discuss these questions with the panel.