Lena Zúñiga

During the summer of 2008 I worked with the team that organized Slow Food Nation. This celebration of good, clean and fair food took place at San Francisco’s Civic Center and Fort Mason and at other Bay Area venues. I was in charge of the Agrarian Arts program, supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Part of the work on the program was identifying performance artists who were connecting their practice to the land, the harvest and the traditions of their ancestors around food and agriculture. The main performance was featured as part of the Victory Garden program during labor day weekend, at the Civic Center venue. Our small stage was graced by amazing artists such as David Mas Masumoto and Nikiko Masumoto (spoken word and Taiko drums), the Old Time Trio (bluegrass and old time music), Cascada de Flores (mexican and cuban music and dance), a Tibetan Community group, a group of Hmong music and dance, a Bulgarian Honeybee and Harvest dance, the traditional aztec Danza Xitlalli, a Kulintang Music and Dance group, and the nigerian group RSK arts and drums. We documented the performances and the interaction with the public using video cameras, digital photo cameras, audio recording and blogs.