#jose-vega

#jose-vega

"My paintings can be described as sculptural in nature, emphasising physical presence, weight and materiality."

"I said it all at once: Dad, Mom, I want to be an artist, I'm leaving home, I'm gay and I have a boyfriend," he recounted, according to the outlet Lecturas.

The track 'The Fool' by The David Hillyard Rocksteady 7 stood out among the rest for its earworm hook, infectious beat, and old-school sound.

Eliades Ochoa's aura is so powerful that under the generous rays of sunlight streaming through the large window on this March morning, he evokes a Western film.

The Bandera Cimarrona, a flag conceived at the first edition of the International Summit of Afro-descendants in Puerto Rico in 2022, stands as a symbol of the resistance, the pursuit of freedom, and the strength of Afro-descendants on the island and throughout the Americas.

Pianist Dr. Gabriela Calderón and violinist Dr. Catalina Barraza celebrate the rich musical heritage of Latin America.

Durand Jones and the Indications have built a following on modern soul that feels warm, textured, and deeply rooted in classic R&B traditions. Formed in Bloomington, Indiana, the band leans into rich harmonies, tight rhythm sections, and songwriting that balances vulnerability with groove.

It makes me feel proud, simply because of the specific time we're in right now. It definitely takes a lot of courage for kids my age to represent their culture. Anthony Benitez, an 18-year-old violin student born in the United States to Mexican immigrants, expressed how the academy provides a meaningful outlet for cultural expression amid punitive immigration enforcement affecting Latino and immigrant families across the country.

It is a dance tradition, but it's very much culturally rooted. It's also for many, if not all, the people involved, a spiritual practice. But even in different (dance) groups that hold to different ways of being, we still collaborate together - we still work together to uplift the culture.

The first is George Frideric Handel's beloved "Zadok The Priest" written for the coronation of England's King George II. The second takes the audience forward in time to 1936's "Dona Nobis Pacem," an emotional plea for peace composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams with words from the poetry of Walt Whitman.

Born in Jalisco, Mexico, Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija (aka Peso Pluma) is a singer, songwriter and rapper known for his corridos tumbados. Often dealing with themes of love, heartbreak and the narco cartels of his region, Peso Pluma has taken the world by storm with his romantic sound and a voice that can range from gravel to silk.

When your plane descends into Puerto Rico's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, it will likely fly low over the colorful buildings of Santurce, a sprawling district famous for its creative residents and Afro-Caribbean influences. Neglected for decades, Santurce is rapidly reclaiming its title as one of San Juan's most exciting quarters - a transformation that has earned it the nickname "The Brooklyn of Puerto Rico." And if you're looking for Afro-Caribbean cuisine, you're coming to the right place.

Michelle Paulin dances while instructing youth at the Dulce Tricolor Venezolano dance group at the Ariel Dance Studio in Campbell on Jan. 25, 2026. Dulce Tricolor, a Bay Area Venezuelan dance group founded in 2019, teaches children traditional folk dances while preserving culture, building community and offering a sense of home amid Venezuela's ongoing political and economic crisis. (Josie Lepe for KQED)

I vividly recall watching Saved By the Bell as a little girl and being drawn to the character of Zack Morris. My grandfather Tati, however, would repeatedly mention AC Slater and the fact that a Latino cast member on an American TV show was amazing. After renting Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet on VHS and gushing over Leonardo DiCaprio, I would listen to my grandfather point out John Leguizamo in the cast.

Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist on Spotify for four years. He headlined the Super Bowl, singing in Spanish, challenging long-held ideas about what it means to be mainstream. His career highlights how streaming platforms, diaspora audiences, and shifting cultural power now determine global relevance.

Otherworldly forms greet you at the entrance to the exhibition, transporting you into a kaleidoscopic, dream-like space. A voice speaks in the background as projected images dance across the forms, animating the space. "It's been really beautiful to see her work come alive, become a landscape ... where you can traverse and kind of get lost," curator Fabiola R. Delgado says of Lisu Vega's "The Uncertain Future of Absence (El Futuro Incierto de la Ausencia)" (2025).

The artists José Parlá and Claudia Hilda, his wife, live in a former fire station in Fort Greene surrounded by memories of Cuba, which Parlá's ­family fled in 1970 and where ­Hilda lived until recently. "There's a lot of magical realism here, a big mix of Cuban traditions and religion," says Parlá, pointing to an icon of la Caridad del Cobre, the island's patron saint, in the kitchen. "We cannot move her!"

The artists José Parlá and Claudia Hilda, his wife, live in a former fire station in Fort Greene surrounded by memories of Cuba, which Parlá's family fled in 1970 and where Hilda lived until recently. "There's a lot of magical realism here, a big mix of Cuban traditions and religion," says Parlá, pointing to an icon of la Caridad del Cobre, the island's patron saint, in the kitchen. "We cannot move her!"

Launched during his years teaching at Stanford in the mid-1980s, the Rockin' Jalapeno Band drew upon his earlier career as an R&B musician in San Antonio, and later, Las Vegas. But the inveterately curious Cuéllar kept expanding the Rockin' Jalapeno sound, deepening its connections to New Orleans grooves, jazz, and soul. Over the decades, the group included dozens of top Bay Area musicians, including many who went on to lead their own bands, and became known as a sure-fire act for fundraisers, community events, rallies and protests.

Edward Simon was in his mid-teens when he left his home in Punta Cardon, Venezuela, for good and settled in the United States, driven by his desire to learn about jazz at the source. His quest has taken him to breathtaking creative heights with achievements visible both at home, where the Emeryville pianist and composer is the longest serving member of the SFJAZZ Collective, and abroad, via regular tours throughout Europe.

In the just-named Grammy Album of the Year, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS-which Bad Bunny has declared his " most Puerto Rican album " to date-the supernova reggaetonero painted an evocative portrait of the Caribbean island, while declaring to a whopping 8.6 million listeners: "VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR" (I'm going to bring you to Puerto Rico). And he did. Last year, a record-breaking number of tourists-7,486,000 to be exact-visited Puerto Rico's tropical shores.

One such person who was finding his singular creative spark amidst the volatility was Lamere's partner, the late Alan Vega, one half of the pioneering electronic-punk outfit Suicide. After the group's 1977 self-titled album - a raw record filled with grinding drum machines, haunting organ, feral screams and ghostly atmospherics - but before their more polished follow-up in 1980, Vega wanted to do some solo stuff.

Last summer, she was one of the interpreters at his 30-date concert residency in Puerto Rico, No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí (I Don't Want to Leave Here), which injected hundreds of millions of dollars into Puerto Rico's economy. With lyrics that capture the grief and alienation of Puerto Ricans forced to leave home in search of opportunities, Bad Bunny's 2025 album Debí Tirar Más Fotos became a global phenomenon that continues to resonate across cultures.