POLITICS & INNOVATION
LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONVERSATIONS ON GLOBAL ISSUES
Hear from local, regional, and national Industry leaders as we discuss a wide range of topics in the lead up to the upcoming elections. Our vision is to bring people of all views together to converse over the most important issues of our time.
Crossroad Talks
Monday, February 24th, 2020.
9am-12noon at Camille Playhouse, Brownsville, TX
Crossroads Talks: a Bi-National Conversation aims to foster the conversation on border-related issues and celebrate the bicultural identity of our region. Think TED-style, 15-minute presentations featuring a variety of speakers with ties to the Rio Grande Valley.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CROSSROADS TALKS
Monday, February 24th, 2020. 9am-12noon at Camille Playhouse, Brownsville, TX
** Speaker lineup not in a particular order.
Tuesday (9am - 12pm)
Federal Immigration Policy and Its Impact In Our Communities (9:05 am - 9:50 am)
Historically, the borderlands have been shaped and impacted the most by federal immigration policy. From Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals(DACA) to the ongoing Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), this panel will bring together leaders, activists and community organizers that are working every daytowards uplifting and supporting migrants and undocumented people in the region and across the country. See firsthand how people in Brownsville are working toensure freedom and justice for undocumented immigrants in our home.
Panelists:
Gaby Zavala, BS, Founder, Asylum Seeker Network of Support / Founder & Executive Director, Resource Center Matamoros
Sadie Hernandez, Digital Content Coordinator, United We Dream / UWD Action
Michael Seifert, Co-Chair, Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network
Youth Leaders: Voter Engagement in the RGV (10:05 am - 10:50 am)
In Texas, people under 35 make up 52% of the electorate. For progressives, 2020 is poised to be one of the most important and historical election seasons in our democracy. Learn first hand from young people leading a movement to change the way their peers engage in the election process right here in our community.
Panelists:
Emma Catarina Guevara, RGV Regional Field Organizer, Battleground Texas
Ofelia Alonso, Regional Field Coordinator, RGV- El Paso
Andrea Juarez, Deputy Field Organizer, Texas Rising
LGBTQ+ Activism on the Borderlands (11:05 am - 11:50 am)
From Gloria Anzaldua to Brownsville's official LGBTQ+ Task Force, this panel will bring together a handful of community leaders from across the Rio Grande Valley to discuss what it has been like to continue building upon a legacy of queer activism and advocacy on the borderlands.
Panelists:
Beatrix Lestrange, Dragtivist/Community Organizer
Jada Josette, President, GenTex
Gabriel Sanchez, RGV LGBTQIA+ Historian and curator/Co-director of Pansy Pachanga Documentary/President of South Texas Equality Project
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR POLITICAL TALKS
Tuesday, February 25th, 2020. 9am-12noon at Camille Playhouse, Brownsville, TX
*Speakers not in particular order.
Wednesday (9am - 12pm)
The Border from Behind the Lens from The Texas Tribune
The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is at the forefront of national political conversations. Images from the region have been splashed across front pages from New York to Nuevo Laredo. But what is the real story behind those images? The Texas Tribune’s photographer and photo editor Miguel Gutierrez sits down with local photographer Verónica G. Cárdenas to talk about their experience capturing what’s really taking place at the border — what stories they learned from behind the camera, and the people they met along the way.
Verónica G. Cárdenas
Verónica G. Cárdenas is a freelance video and photojournalist based in McAllen, Texas. Migration issues are a recurring theme that she explores.
She began covering migrant caravans in 2017. Her work has been shown at the United Nations, exhibited in Photoville’s EmergiCubes, Long Island City Arts, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley-UTRGV, Festival of International Books and Arts, FESTIBA, South Texas College, among others. Some publications where her work has been featured include BuzzFeed News, ESPN, NPR, Rolling Stone, San Antonio Express News, Texas Public Radio, Texas Tribune, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and TIME Magazine.
Cárdenas is an Eddie Adams and Missouri Photo Workshop alumni and was an International Women’s Media Foundation Fellow in 2019. She completed a mentorship program with Women Photograph where she was also a finalist with her portfolio work on transgender women being turned away after seeking asylum at the border.
Miguel Gutierrez Jr
Miguel Gutierrez Jr. is The Texas Tribune's photographer and photo editor.
He oversees our photography operation, thinking strategically about how to tell visually rich stories about Texas government and politics with the help of our network of talented freelance photographers across the state. Gutierrez, an Illinois native who is fluent in Spanish, came to us from New York, where he was working as a multimedia producer for the state attorney general’s office. But he knows Texas well.
He received two master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin — in journalism and Latin American studies — and worked as a multimedia producer at KUT. Gutierrez has a bachelor’s degree in Latin American and Latino studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has also worked in film production in Los Angeles.
Brownsville 2030: Space City
Topic of conversation will be what the next decade of space science developments would bring to the Brownsville area, with a focus on education, community outreach/development, and infrastructure projects.
The Future of Brownsville and Matamoros:
Mayor Trey Mendez and Mario Alberto Lopez Hernandez
With the Border taking an amplified role in national politics, two mayors at the forefront of this issue sit down to discuss the uniqueness of being a border mayor, what brings both communities together, and what future holds for both of their cities.
TALKS SCHEDULE
CROSSROADS TALKS - MONDAY FEBRUARY 24TH
Sister Norma Pimentel - immigration
Dr. William Strong – “What started in Brownsville changed the world”
Dr. Edith Trevino – Education &Immigration
Michael Seifert - Advocacy
Mike Benavides – Team Brownsville
Louis Dartez – Stargate and Expanding Frontiers
Dr. Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez – “Fully embracingbilingualism is the way forward”
Dr. Mark Kaswan – Economic Development
Craig Grove – Community Building Throughpositive Use Of Social Media
Daniella Lopez Valdez – The Dangers of Ocean Pastic and How The Community Can Help
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 25TH
Federal Immigration Policy and Its Impact In Our Communities (9:05 am - 9:50 am)
Youth Leaders: Voter Engagement in the RGV (10:05 am - 10:50 am)
LGBTQ+ Activism on the Borderlands (11:05 am - 11:50 am)
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26TH
The Border from Behind the Lens from The Texas Tribune
Brownsville 2030: Space City
The Future of Brownsville and Matamoros:
Mayor Trey Mendez and Mario Alberto Lopez Hernandez
DAILY ADMISSION PASS
$35
Daily Pass allows ticket holders to access all tracts of the Crossroads Festival for the specific day purchased.
3-DAY GENERAL ADMISSION PASS
$95
3-Day General Admission Pass allows ticket holders to access all 5 tracts of the Crossroads Festival.
VIP ALL ACCESS
$175
VIP Pass allows ticket holders to access all 5 tracts of the Crossroads Festival as well exclusive multi course dinners, meet and greets with musicians, and much more!
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