2024 Marcus Festival: Future Dreaming

Our 2024 Marcus Festival is a celebration of Future Dreaming… A Path Forward.

Future Dreaming is an exhibition of fanciful, compelling, and speculative contemporary artworks inviting visitors to imagine futures built upon the ancestral wisdom of multiple Indigenous heritages. These works celebrate the natural world, our interdependent relationship with it, and collectively communicate the idea that no one being, either animate or inanimate, is superior to another. Each work explores the duality of our existence, sparking both humor and joy, along with contemplation, skepticism, and reminding us that as humans, we are all related and share a responsibility in caring for one another and for the planet. As we face a catastrophic climate crisis, this Indigenous knowledge, based upon thousands of years of land stewardship and care for natural spaces, can provide ways of coexisting and model a pathway for our mutual sustainability.

Featuring four leading contemporary artists recognized locally, as well as nationally and internationally, Beatriz Cortez, Ana Teresa Fernández, Rayos Magos, and Marie Watt present newly commissioned and existing works throughout the grounds of Montalvo to help celebrate the unveiling of A Path Forward: Honoring Ohlone Land & Spirit, a permanent living monument for the arts center’s public park lands.

To fully experience A Path Forward, you will need to download the Kinfolk app onto your phone. We recommend downloading the app before your visit to Montalvo, so that you are ready to go as soon as you see the work. NOTE: The button below will only work on mobile devices.

Instructions:

• Open the Kinfolk app.
• Select the Scan mode from the bottom left: 
• Tap the green scan button.
• Point your camera at the icon on the sign.
• Your Augmented Reality experience will begin!

No parking on site.

Free shuttle service to the event will be available from West Valley College, Lot 5 (entrance on Admissions Way).

Rideshare (Taxi/Lyft/Uber) drop-offs will be allowed, but no pick-ups. If you are using a rideshare service, please take the shuttle to West Valley when you depart and call from there.

Timeline

• 6pm–6:15pm: Carolyn Yarnell, LAP Fellow, performs Solus in the Historic Villa Library
  Carolyn Yarnell, composer and visual artist, is noted for works which combine visual and musical depictions of landscape and light. She holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory and Yale, and a recipient of the NEA’s an Individual Artist Fellowship for Music and Oil Painting.
• 6:15pm: Amah-ka-tura Dancers perform on the Great Lawn to welcome A Path Forward
  Led by Patrick Orozco, Amah-ka-tura performs song and dance in the Ohlone tradition. In addition to performing at schools, public events and dedications Amah-ka-tura is an active cultural bearer through activities that include teaching the language, telling the stories, making instruments and preserving the ancient ways through music and performance.
• 6:45pm: DJ Chale Brown plays on the Villa Veranda
  Thomas Ramon Aguilar, AKA Chale Brown, is an artist, curator, and DJ based in San Jose. Under the moniker Universal Grammar (UG) he presents and promotes interdisciplinary artists from all over the globe and produces music with a forwardthinking mission to present quality artistry and emerging contemporary voices.
• 7:45pm: Esoterica Tropical performance on the Villa Veranda
  Singer-songwriter María José Montijo draws inspiration from over 20 years of experience as a healer. Her music is rooted in a continuous process of discovery and care, where trauma is transformed into art.
• 8:15pm: DJ Chale Brown plays on the Villa Veranda
• 9:15pm: SJSU Music, Dance and Digital Media pays tribute to Richard Mayhew in the Carriage House Theatre
  Members of the Dance, Music, and CADRE/ Digital Media departments at San Jose State University’s College of the Arts and Humanities will present a recent collaborative performance, as tribute to the pioneering interdisciplinary art, education and research work of Visual Artist, Richard Mayhew, a San Jose State professor and former Montalvo Artist in Residence in 1976.

Food will be available for sale from the following vendors (located in Parking Lot 2):

• Bigfoot Frybread
• Chick N’ Bros
• Hummingbird Sweets & Treats
• Pre-Hispanic Mexican Cuisine

Beer, wine, water, and soda are also be available for purchase from our bar.

An Indigenous marketplace will take place on the Great Lawn featuring:

• Getting to the Root
• Handcrafted by Yocoxca
• Lil Mija Frida
• Shiyoo Designs

The Marcus Exhibition and Festival is made possible through the support of the Marcus Family Foundation, the Jo and Barry Ariko Fund for Artistic Programs, and the California Arts Council. A Path Forward: Honoring Ohlone Land & Spirit is a partnership of the Santa Clara County Parks, the Confederation of Ohlone People, led by Charlene Eigen-Vasquez, and Montalvo Arts Center. This work was made possible through a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Award and the California Arts Council Impact Projects Award, and the generous contributions of the George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation and the Jo and Barry Ariko Fund for Artistic Programs. Additional support was provided by Kinfolk and the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza.