Lizbeth Ortiz, Constance Vazzino, & Alan Gonzalez talk Frida Festival!

Frida Festival Showcase! Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, interviews artist Lizbeth Ortiz, artist and founder of Houston's Frida Festival! Also joining us are two big contributors to the event! Our show airs Tueday's on 90.1 FM KPFT Houston on Houston's Community Radio 90.1 FM at 7:00 PM CST. We will share a podcast link as well after the show! Alan Gonzalez / Alantude is an Emmy award winning fashion and costume designer based out New York. Project Runway contestant and host of Project Runway Redemption, Alan runs his namesake brand Alantude, as well as working on private commission for TV, Film & Theatre and private events. Constance Vazzino (@Coralbouquetgallery) is a mixed media artist and full time educator living in Houston TX. She graduated with a BFA with a focus in Studio Painting. Her art is all about the process that includes different mediums, colors, imagery, and materials within her pieces. Her inspiration comes from oceanic and biology related images. As for Lisbeth Ortiz, she was born in Mexico City, raised in Houston, and thrust into adulthood in New York City certainly have influenced her work. Lizbeth Ortiz graduated from HSPVA/Houston and attended Pratt Institute/NYC.In 2005 along with a community of inspired artists, Lizbeth Ortiz organized the first Frida Festival in Houston.Join us and we'll see you there at the Frida Festival, a month long celebration! Viva Frida! Art ExhibitionMECA East End April 8, 6-9 pm Frida en Primavera Dinner + Fashion Show | The Ballroom at Bayou PlaceApril 19, 6-10 pm Frida Festival | MECAApril 29, 11 am – 7 pm More info at www.fridafestival.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony Diaz Writer and activist Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, is a Cultural Accelerator. He was the first Chicano to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program.In 1998, he founded Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say (NP), Houston’s first reading series for Latino authors. The group galvanized Houston’s Community Cultural Capital to become a movement for civil rights, education, and representation.When Arizona officials banned Mexican American Studies, Diaz and four veteran members of NP organized the 2012 Librotraficante Caravan to smuggle books from the banned curriculum back into Arizona. He is the author of The Aztec Love God. His book, The Tip of the Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital, is the first in his series on Community Organizing. * This is part of a Nuestra Palabra Multiplatform broadcast.* Video airs on www.Fox26Houston.com.* Audio airs on 90.1 FM Houston, KPFT, Houston's Community Station, where our show began.* Live events. Thanks toRoxana Guzman, Multiplatform ProducerRodrigo Bravo, Jr., Audio ProducerRadame Ortiez, SEO DirectorMarc-Antony Piñón, Graphics DesignerLeti Lopez, Music DirectorBryan Parras, co-host and producer emeritusLiana Lopez, co-host and producer emeritusLupe Mendez, Texas Poet Laureate, co-host, and producer emeritus Writer and activist Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, hosts Latino Politics and News and the Nuestra Palabra Radio Show on 90.1 FM, KPFT, Houston’s Community Station. He is also a political analyst on “What’s Your Point?” on Fox 26 Houston. He is the author of the forthcoming book: The Tip of the Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital. www.Librotraficante.comwww.NuestraPalabra.orgwww.TonyDiaz.net Nuestra Palabra is funded in part by the BIPOC Arts Network Fund. Instrumental Music produced / courtesy of Bayden RecordsWebsite | baydenrecords.beatstars.com