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.

CROSSROADS TALKS LINEUP

Sister Norma Pimentel

Immigration

Dr. William Strong

What started in Brownsville changed the world” (the life of William Gorgas)

Dr. Edith Treviño

Education & Immigration

Michael Seifer

Co-Chair, Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network

Mike Benavides

Team Brownsville

Louis Dartez

Stargate and Expanding Frontiers

DR. Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez

Fully embracing bilingualism is the way forward

Dr. Mark Kaswan

Economic development

Craig Grove

Community building through positive use of social media

Daniella Lopez Valdez

The dangers of ocean plastic and how the community can help

Josh Mejia

Investing in the Human Capital of Your Community

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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