The company of American Mariachi. Photo by AdamsVisCom

Meet the Denver and Colorado Latinx creatives transforming arts, culture and community.

Everyone knows the soap opera drama of a telenovela. Whether we admit it or not, it’s hard to resist being pulled along by a story that makes us gasp as well as laugh and cry, like Destiny of Desire: A Telenovela Play with Music, running this fall in the Wolf Theatre.

What’s better than actors on stage, dressed in fantastic costumes and surrounded by ingenious sets and music so perfect you aren’t even aware of just how many elements not only enrich but comprise the story?

Perhaps not better than live theater, but who doesn’t occasionally appreciate sinking into a reclining seat with a bucket of buttered popcorn to try and solve a mystery before the credits roll? Or curling up on the couch and getting lost in a good book, poetry or prose, on pages or in pixels?

Then again, how to top lingering in the beauty of a painting or in the power and virtuosity of a dance performance? Or admiring a mural during your walk in the park?

While all of that may seem obvious to art lovers, it’s probably less obvious that all of the above – and more – are available as part of Colorado’s Latinx Creative Economy.

What is a Latinx Creative Economy?

For starters, what’s described above – theater, film, literature, visual and performing arts – but basically an abundance of creative goods and services that emphasize culture and innovation and are produced as part of a job generating, tax-base contributing part of the economy, in this case by the Latinx community for art lovers of all kinds.

Despite searching on my own and even enlisting the assistance of a senior librarian friend, as far as I could discern no one specifically tracks how much the Latinx Creative Economy contributes in dollars to the state’s or the nation’s economy, but we can do a little extrapolation on our own.

• Coloradans are an art loving and creative bunch. Coupled with the impact of cultural tourism, the state recorded a record breaking $3.1 billion in economic impact from arts and culture in 2024, according to the 2025 Economic Activity Study of Metro Denver Culture from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, a nonprofit that connects and advocates for businesses and the arts.
• The National Endowment for the Arts reported in 2022 that there were about 51k artists in Colorado. The NEA also reported that Colorado ranks first in the percentage of residents who perform or create art, according to their Participation Study.
• Latinos, or Hispanics, make up about 24 percent of the state population of about 6 million, so about 1.4 million per U.S. Census population estimates from July 1, 2025.

Does that mean there are some 12k Latinx artists in Colorado?

Of course not. I’m a writer and not a mathematician, but you get the point. The Latinx Creative Economy is popping, as the young folks say.

If you’re still trying to add things up instead of buying tickets, just stop. And please allow me to help you return to the focus of this entire piece with a starter list of Latinx artists and organizations that you should totally check out pronto.

Museums and Galleries

Museo de las Americas

Founded in 1992, the Mexican Cultural Center is a nonprofit that works in partnership with cultural, educational and other institutions to promote and maintain the richness of Mexican culture in Colorado. Coming up on Sept. 12, they will host the annual Amor a la Mexicana Fest, an all-inclusive celebration of culture, art, tequila, and tasting, in downtown Denver. Tickets are on sale now. On Sept. 19, to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the MCC will present the 10^th annual Latin Beats: Sonidos de las Américas concert with the Colorado Symphony at Boettcher Concert hall. It’s free.

Museo de las Americas is one of the premier Latin American art museums in the Rocky Mountain region, celebrating the artistic and cultural achievements of Latino communities from ancient to folk to contemporary art. Coming up in Aug. 22-23, they will celebrate their 35^th anniversary with an art performance with Ana Maria Hernando and music by Denver’s own Devotchka, a family fun day with baby goats, a youth DJ and more.

The Latino Cultural Arts Center will open its new campus, Las Bodegas, this fall in Denver’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The 10,000-square-foot warehouse will be an incubator for creative career development in Denver’s historically marginalized communities, hosting exhibitions, workshops, performances, mentorship, and cultural programming while also connecting artists to opportunity, youth to mentorship, communities to cultural traditions, and generations to one another.

Founded in 1978 to address the lack of representation for Chicano art in traditional Colorado galleries during the 1970s, the Chicano Humanities & Arts Council is Colorado’s oldest Latinx nonprofit art organization. It now operates two galleries in Denver’s historic and contemporary Chicano neighborhoods and supports over 120 diverse artists, ranging from emerging talents to established figures.

Fashion

Latin Fashion Week Colorado was founded by Norberto “Beto” Mojardin, who also founded the Colorado Día de los Muertos Festival, cultural arts organization Viva Colorado and Beto’s Hair Studio and whose artistry includes paintings, sculptures, fashion design, sewing and several traditional forms of Mexican art. LFWC, coming up on Sunday, Aug. 30, is an unforgettable celebration of style and culture, a chance to experience the vibrant world of Latin fashion with a stunning runway show, live entertainment, delightful taste of cultures and gastronomy and amazing designers showcasing their freshest looks and textures.

Visual Arts

Colorado-based artist David Ocelotl Garcia is accomplished across several mediums including painting, sculpture, and murals. His work can be seen in national and international public art commissions, and both museum and private collections. By the age of 18, David was assisting professional muralists and monumental bronze sculptors on major public art installations across the country. Now, his own work ranges from large-scale interior and exterior public art installations consisting of murals, painted directly on existing surfaces, panels, cloth and canvas as well as mosaic and sculpture.

Emanuel Martínez began his career as an artist at the age of 13 when he painted his first mural. His art education includes workshops with world-renowned artists and sculptors including David A. Siquieros and Francisco Zuniga. At the age of 20, Emanuel did a major work and two other pieces that are now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. He has been featured in over 300 newspaper/magazine articles and 30 published books, including a book written on his art career entitled: Emanuel Martinez: A Retrospective.

The Emanuel Project, named for artist Martínez (above) who began drawing with burned matchsticks while incarcerated as a teenager, brings together mural-making, preservation, and community storytelling into a single practice. The project works with youth, artists, educators, and neighbors to create new works, restore historic ones, celebrate cultural identity, and share the histories behind them. Executive Director Lucha Martínez de Luna, Emanuel’s daughter, also leads the Chicana/o/x Murals of Colorado Project, an effort to protect and restore some of the historic murals across Colorado.

Tony Ortega is a Denver-based Chicano artist, printmaker, painter, and educator whose career spans more than four decades. His work explores Chicano identity, cultural memory, spirituality, and the concept of Nepantla — the in-between space where cultures, histories, and identities intersect. His work has been shown at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos and is included in prominent public and private collections such as the Denver Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Museo Estudio Diego Rivera in Mexico City.

Carlota D. EspinoZa is an American painter, muralist, and activist recognized as one of the early and significant Latina and Chicana muralists in Denver. Her work is deeply intertwined with community identity, social justice, and the cultural heritage of the Chicano movement. EspinoZa’s career spans decades, characterized by public artworks that blend myth with reality to give voice to her community. Her art legacy includes the mural, “The Apparition of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in Mexico,” painted in 1976 for the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Denver, and a mural created for the Denver Public Library Byers branch, “Pasado, Presente, Futuro,” which was incorporated into the City of Denver’s Public Art collection.

Carlos Fresquez has exhibited his artwork in over 30 U.S. states and a dozen different countries. His work has been included in touring exhibitions including The Colorado Artist Fellowship Awards Exhibition and The Chicano Codices: Encountering Art of the Americas. His many awards include a sculpture commissioned for Paco Sanchez Park by the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, The Lena L. Archuleta Community Service Award from the Denver Public Library, and an Arts Innovation Award from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Foundation.

Cowboy

Charro Gerardo “Jerry” Díaz is a lifetime member of the National Western Stock Show and was inducted into the National Cowboys of Color Museum and Hall of Fame and so many others. For some 30 years, he has directed the Mexican Rodeo Extravaganza at Denver’s stock show, bringing Charro style bareback riding and bull riding, matadors and more to the stock show. A favorite is the escaramuza charra, the only female equestrian event in the Mexican charrería in which an all-female team “skirmishes” on horses in synchronized maneuvers to music, riding side-saddle and wearing traditional Mexican sombreros and dresses. The event sells out early.

Dance

Photo courtesy of ArtistiCO

ArtistiCO, founded by Alfonso “Poncho” Meraza and ​Jose “Chepe” Rosales, who both danced with Mexico’s national ballet company, has formed a professional dance company that embraces dance techniques including Mexican folk dance, classical and contemporary ballet and has hosted shows in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and Newman Center for the Performing Arts. They have also established a dance academy with two locations in the Denver area.

The Colorado Afro Latin Dance and Arts Collective, formerly known as Denver Salsa Bachata Congress, is a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion, education and preservation of Afro Latin Culture through the arts in Colorado. Their CALDACON, a 4-day dance convention held every fall in Denver, attracts music, dance, and art lovers from across the country, showcasing 3 live bands, 125 live Afro-Latin dance performances, and 115 workshops.

Fiesta Colorado Dance Company, under the direction of Jeanette Trujillo-Lucero, has been bringing folklorico and flamenco to Denver for more than 40 years. Jeanette is a maestro of dance and has taught thousands of dancers who have performed around the world. Their mission is to educate the youth and support life-time professional artists.

Latino Arts & Cultural Institute Colorado is dedicated to celebrating and promoting Latino heritage through vibrant arts and cultural programs. The nonprofit strives to create a dynamic platform for artists and the community to connect, learn, and thrive, offering workshops, exhibitions, and performances that highlight the richness and diversity of Latino culture.

Gabriela Gonzales is a professional salsa and bachata dancer born and raised in Denver who was a world champion as a child. She’s a performer and teaches dance at Colorado New Style Dance Studio.

Literature

Denver’s Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the bestselling author of the novel Woman of Light and the widely acclaimed short story collection Sabrina & Corina, winner of an American Book Award and finalist for the National Book Award. She is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Fajardo-Anstine was the 2022–2024 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University.

Author and artist Mario Acevedo has written seven vampire novels, a young adult novel, a graphic novel, some short fiction, and numerous ghost-written books. He’s also taught creative writing at Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the Regis Mile High MFA program. He’s also a self-taught, life-long artist who specializes in oils and urban landscapes.

Manuel Ramos is the author of 11 novels, including five in the Luis Montez Mystery series, and a short story collection. His short stories have been included in several anthologies. He’s a Colorado Book Award winner and an Edgar Award finalist. Co-founder and regular contributor to the award-winning internet magazine La Bloga, which deals with Latino literature, culture, news and opinion, Manuel was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame in 2021.

Dino Enrique Piacentini grew up in Los Angeles, lived in San Francisco for 20 years, and has also, at various times, set down stakes in Houston, Oaxaca, Champaign, and Prague. His writing has been published in One Story, Gulf Coast, Confrontation, Pembroke, The Master’s Review, The Atticus Review, and The Massachusetts Review, among other places. Currently, he lives in Denver and teaches creative writing at Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the University of Denver. His debut novel, Invasion of the Daffodils, about a Mexican-American family living on an island off the coast of California during the Korean War, was published by Astrophil Press in October 2024.

Founded in 2019, the Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors was created to give Colorado Latino writers and authors the chance to promote their work and be recognized. CALMA offers a unique mentoring program, and its advocacy role has helped to bring to light the gifted and prolific writings of many Latino authors. Some members have been published for decades, while others are newly published authors, and still others are aspiring writers or mentees. CALMA proudly highlights their collective work, which represents a wide range of genres and writing styles.

Music

Looking for the best in new and classic Latin American music? Tune in every Sunday to KUVO JAZZ (89.3 FM) at 4pm for Super Sonido with La Molly. The show highlights various Latin American genres, as well as local Latino musicians who should be on your playlist. Hosted by the multi-talented DJ La Molly, who is also the co-founder of the Latino arts collective Ciudad Reina, the show is enormously popular with Denver’s Latino community. You can listen to archived shows on KUVO’s website.

Dr. Lorenzo Trujillo is a folk violinist, guitarist, vocalist, and accomplished ethnic dancer, a highly respected figure in the world of Southwestern music and culture known for his lifelong dedication to preserving and promoting the rich traditions of folk music, dance, and arts. As the director of the Southwest Musicians, founding Director of Mariachi and Senior Advisor of the MSU Denver Mariachi Program, Dr. Trujillo has helped shape the cultural landscape of the region for over six decades.

Mariachi MSU – In fall 2025, MSU Denver launched an Individualized Degree Program in Mariachi Performance and Culture, an interdisciplinary major that combines music performance with Chicana/o Studies, World Languages and business coursework. Dr. Trujillo (above) helped create the academic program, which started with the student club Los Correcaminos, a mariachi ensemble that over more than ten years has become a fixture in Colorado’s mariachi scene.

Mariachi Juvenil de Bryant-Webster – The first elementary mariachi group in the Denver Public Schools system began in January 2004 to honor and preserve the culture of mariachi music. Since then, more than 250 third- through eighth-grade students have sung and played instruments in the after-school mariachi program, learning musicianship skills and technique as well as performance skills. The ensemble has performed for the WB2 Culture Parade, the DPS Foundation Gala, the La Raza Youth Leadership Conference, with the Broomfield Civic Orchestra, with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, with Mariachi Sol de mi Tierra, and national educational conferences throughout Denver. For more information: (720) 424-9170.

Mariachi Sol de Mi Tierra has been sharing its culture through music in Colorado for 25 years. The band, including member Juventino Romero, performs at large venues such as a recent concert with Fiesta Colorado Dance Company at the Levitt Pavilion and at many major Latino celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day, while also playing at restaurants and at events like weddings, funerals and quinceañeras.

Native Colorado artist Felisa LatinSoul has been playing her unique fusion of spirit and sound in major Denver venues and on local airwaves since the release of her breakout debut album Sacraficios in 2006, which won Best of Westword 2006 Best Pop CD with Latin Flavor honors. A mainstay at the annual Puerto Rico Festival, her soulful mix of Latin R&B, hip-hop, and jazz have landed her opening performances for stars Ziggy Marley, Trina, Too Short, Baby Bash, Lil’ Flip and an after party for Common.

iZCALLi is a genre-bending rock band pushing the sonic envelope of conventional Latin sounds. Miguel Aviña (Lead Guitar/Vocals), Brenda Aviña (Bass) and Luiggy Ramírez (Drums) supported by a cast of some of Denver’s premier musicians, combine to create music for the relentless, the determined…the immigrant song. Inherently authentic and undeniably refreshing.

Theater

Yolanda Ortega and Angel Mendez Soto in Su Teatro’s ‘Northside’

Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center – For more than 40 years, Su Teatro has been promoting, producing, developing and preserving Chicano/Latino stories on stage. Find them on Denver’s Santa Fe Arts District.

Film

Alan Dominguez is an award-winning filmmaker whose documentary and narrative films have been screened and distributed in three different continents and in three different languages. Among his many honors, he’s been awarded three recent fellowships from Sundance.

Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana is a Mexican immigrant filmmaker, cinematographer and multimedia creator traversing borderlands and migrant trails. He’s a Camargo Foundation Cassis France Artist alumni, a Firelight Media Documentary Lab Fellow, a New America National Fellow, a Creative Capital Awards Artist Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) NewsCenter is the organization’s editorial platform for stories, announcements, interviews, and coverage of theatre and cultural programming in Colorado. We are committed to producing accurate, trustworthy, clearly sourced journalism that reflects our mission and serves our community.