Celebrate México Now Festival (CMN) will be returning to NYC from Nov. 14 to 21, confirmed at locations in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. Programs are across literature, photography, culinary arts, film, dance, and music. Each is a part of the pipeline connecting the arts and culture communities of NYC and Mexico.
The 20-year-old festival returned to live programming last year following the COVID-19 pandemic, run by award-winning curator and producer Claudia Norman of CN Management. Most events are free to attend. CMN has thus far showcased nearly 450 artists and partnered with over 150 venues and cultural institutions throughout NYC.
Confirmed Dates
Ximena Pérez Grobet: Reading Finnegans Wake – Center for Book Arts, Manhattan – Nov. 14 at 6:00 p.m.
Ximena Pérez Grobet will take the audience through the nine-year process of creating, editing, and publishing the limited edition of Reading Finnegans Wake. Using a classic edition of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce that was published in 1965, Pérez Grobet unbound the book, carefully cut the text apart nearly line by line, then reassembled it. This resulted in four knitted versions of the text.
Daniel Ramos: Eres Muy Hermosa – Camera Club of New York, Manhattan – Nov. 15 at 6:00 p.m.
In the fifth year of collaboration with the Camera Club of New York, CMN will be hosting photographer Daniel Ramos. He will be discussing his solo exhibit Eres Muy Hermosa, which showcases a series of portraits made with a 4×5 large format view camera in bars and clubs at night in Monterrey, North Mexico.
Mexico Writes Now: An Evening with Carmen Boullosa, Ximena Santaolalla, Naief Yehya, Alvaro Enrigue, and Oswaldo Zavala – The Center for Fiction, Brooklyn – Nov. 16 at 6:00 p.m.
Some of Mexico’s leading voices in academia, poetry, novel, and essay writing will be assembled at the Center for Fiction, discussing their experiences living and working in NYC. Along with the acclaimed writer Carmen Boullosa, authors Ximena Santaolalla, Naief Yehya, Álvaro Enrigue, and Oswaldo Zavala will read their work and share their favorite Mexican films, photographs, and paintings with the audience.
Boullosa’s novel La otra mano de Lepanto has been acknowledged as one of the top works of literature written in Spanish in the last 25 years. She has written a dozen volumes of poetry and has published nineteen novels, two books of essays, and ten plays.
Diana Wangeman and Jesús “Pat Boy” Chablé: The Present and Future of Ancestral Practices – Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Manhattan – Nov. 18, TBA
A unique event featuring two indigenous creators seeking to preserve ancestral practices through very different forms of art. Diana Wangeman acts in the culinary preservation of ancient records of corn cultivation and preparation through her popular Brooklyn tortilleria and restaurant Sobre Masa. Jesús Chablé, better known as Pat Boy, performs rap in Mayan and teaches others to rap in Mayan, helping to preserve the language.
A Tribute to Lourdes Grobet – King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center on NYU Campus, Manhattan – Nov. 20 at 6:00 p.m.
CMN will pay tribute to the late Mexican photographer Lourdes Grobet, presenting the final two projects Grobet finished before passing. The first is Bering, Reunión Familiar, a documentary and a part of Grobet’s larger project on the Bering Strait. The second is Laboratorio de Teatro Campesino e Indígena, medio siglo de historia, a book that Grobet worked on for over 30 years.
SHIFT with Antonio Sánchez and Bad Hombre, Thana Alexa, BIGYUKI and Lex Sadler; Echoes in Proximity; and Ampersan, Co-Presented with World Music Institute – Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan – Nov. 21 at 7:00 p.m.
The only ticketed event as of present, the concert will conclude the CMN Festival. Audiences can expect a showcase of unique, yet contemporary sounds by award-winning musicians that blend genres and styles to create a dynamic music experience. The event will be co-presented with the World Music Institute.
Tickets for the Celebrate México Now Festival are available here. For more information and for updates on future events, check out CMN’s website.
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