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The Quinceañera, or Fiesta de Quince, is the Latin American celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday that has traditionally served as a coming of age ceremony. This Women’s History month, the local arts and culture collective Mujeres De Maiz marks its 15th year anniversary with a series of events that begins with a “full moon circle” on Thursday March 8th, International Women’s Day. On Saturday, Mujeres De Maiz will embrace the meaning of the traditional coming-of-age ceremony while re-fashioning its expression to present a program of music and art they are calling Rites of Passage: Our Alternative Quinceañera. The event is happening at Self Help Graphics on Saturday March 10th and it will feature members of the collective, special guests, and performances by acts such as Quetzal, In Lak Ech, and the Critical Mass Dance Company. The Alternative Quinceañera will be followed by workshops and events focused on women’s empowerment throughout the month: on March 25th three will be a workshop entitled “Confronting Street Harassment,” and the last event, on April 1st, is a “Dialogue on Sexism and Patriarchy in the Movement.”

GUESTS: Felicia Montes is the founder and core coordinator of Mujeres De Maiz, D’lo is a Tamil Sri Lankan American queer, trans, political theater artist, Skim, a Korean American butch multimedia artist

Visit www.mujeresdemaiz.com for more information.

Click here to download a flyer of events for this month’s Mujeres de Maiz celebration.