Where Culture Leads and Community Takes Root

In fall 2020, reports revealed California farmworker deaths, mostly Latino/e, rose 40% from COVID-19 in the outbreak's first eight months.

Believing essential workers were long treated as "throw away people" denied vital protections, civil rights leader and social entrepreneur Mónica Ramírez took immediate action.

She founded the Raizado Festival in Aspen, Colorado. It was designed as a bold, beautiful "record-scratching moment" to capture public attention and demand the world see Latine people as innovators, changemakers, culture-makers, and the nation's backbone. The festival was originally produced by The Latinx House, which was a project incubated by Justice for Migrant Women that was co-founded by Mónica Ramírez, Olga Segura and Alex Martinez Kondracke.

Raizado took over Aspen Meadows, the same storied complex as the Aspen Ideas Festival, and brought the Latine community squarely to the table of American thought leadership. Events open to the public also took place at Historic Hotel Jerome on Encore, the final festival day. The debut drew 17 media outlets on-site, 8 national press fellows, and garnered more than 1 billion media impressions with coverage in Rolling Stone, EXTRA TV, NBC News, The Nation, Remezcla, Yahoo News, Upworthy, and many more. 

The second year of Raizado expanded in every direction: more days, more voices, and a powerful new commitment to the Aspen community itself. A free, public Community Day opened the festival's doors to the entire Roaring Fork Valley, and new programming including a Latinx fashion show and masterclasses, deepened what the festival could offer.

By its third year, Raizado had grown into a four-day convergence of leaders, artists, chefs, filmmakers, and community members. Over 800 people attended Community Day. A national press fellows program brought correspondents from The TODAY Show, ABC News/GMA, NBC News, and Telemundo. The festival was recognized by the Shorty Awards and became a household name in the cultural conference circuit. In its fourth year, the team leaned into its connection with food and the significance of food to Latine culture.

The fourth festival arrived with a theme that felt deeply earned. Raizado honored the living legends who have shaped Latine culture and the next generation rising alongside them. The ICON Awards stage brought together one of the world's most celebrated living authors, a beloved on-screen voice for Latine representation, and two actresses who have dedicated themselves to opening doors for Latinas in the industry.

Raizado Festival returns to Aspen for its fifth year, this time heading fully downtown to the brand-new Paul JAS Center, celebrating everything that has been built and honoring the community at its heart. Given the many constraints and challenges to funding and to addressing emerging social challenges, we decided to shorten the festival and focus on the conversations and content we think are most pressing right now. The festival's pillars of programming — flash talks, screenings, panels, culinary experiences, and the ICON Awards Gala — will once again bring together the most inspiring voices in the Latine community, in the place where it all began.