Join the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center for Day 1 on September 12, at 7 PM for the launch of Esperanza Series, an evening of music, visual art, and community dialogue exploring connection and collective hope across generations.

The Series features singer-songwriter Azul Barrientos and chamber ensemble Agarita, longtime community organizer Rebecca Flores, and visual artist Mauro de la Tierra.

ESPERANZA SERIES emerges at a time when isolation has become increasingly normalized and much of what we experience of the world reaches us through our screens. Faced with events that can feel overwhelming or beyond our individual reach, gathering in person—to listen, create, exchange knowledge, and learn across generations—can itself become a gesture of defiance against isolation and helplessness.

𝗔𝘇𝘂𝗹 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝘀 is a Mexican singer, songwriter, and cultural curator whose work moves between traditional Mexican music and original composition, shaped by memory, place, and lived experience. Her work approaches inherited songs as living forms, carried forward and transformed by each generation that sings them.

𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚 is a San Antonio-based chamber ensemble whose work expands the concert experience through artistic collaboration, adventurous programming, education, and community engagement. Their practice brings classical music into close relationships with other artists, disciplines, and communities.
Featuring: Sarah Silver Manzke on Violin, Marisa Bushman on Viola, Ignacio Gallego on Cello, Daniel Anastasio on Piano.

𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 is a longtime labor organizer and community activist whose work grew from her own experience in a South Texas farmworker family.

𝐌𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐨 𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐚 𝐓𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚 is a San Antonio-based Mexican American painter, sculptor, and illustrator whose community-rooted work confronts social and economic realities, including incarceration, poverty, addiction, and the deterioration of the earth, while holding on to a deep love for humanity.