Registration is still available for Radio Bilingiie’s Mariachi Workshops which will be Saturday, March 6, at California State University, Fresno.
The workshops will be held on campus in the Lab School and the Music Building from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and feature separate instructional divisions in beginning and advanced mariachi instrumentation, mariachi voice, folkloric dancing, and folkloric costume design/production.
On-site registration will be available from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Residence Dining Hall.
Co-sponsored by the university and the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Fresno Arts Council, the Mariachi Workshops kick off a weekend of cultural enrichment that culminates with Radio Bilingiie’s 17th annual “Viva El Mariachi!” Festival in Selland Arena on Sunday, March 7.
Dr. Michael J. Ortiz, Fresno State’s provost and vice president for academic affairs whose office co-sponsors the workshops, said the festival and workshops are valuable educational tools for all.
“The workshops are an educational tool for valley residents who want to keep this wonderful tradition alive for future generations by coming together and learning from masters of this art form,” said Ortiz.
Conducting the workshops are one of the festival’s three top headliners, Natividad (“Nati”) Cano and his troupe, Mariachi Los Camperos of Los Angeles, which has performed throughout the United States and Canada and accompanied many famous vocalists including Linda Ronstadt.
Cano has received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (1990), and Los Camperos has participated in the California Arts Council’s Performing Arts Presenting and Touring Program.
The workshop students perform at the “iViva El Mariachi!” Festival in Selland Arena the next day on Sunday when they participate in the grand finale, alongside the festival’s headliners.
Registration for the mariachi workshop is $30 for adults and $10 for students and children. For more information about the festival or the workshops, call Eva Torres, associate director of Radio Bilingue, at (559) 455-5777 or Kathy Lustig, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council, at (559) 237-9734.
