LOUD Latino Arts Conference at Centro Hispano’s Calli Laying a Solid Foundation (Part 2 of 2)
Oscar Mireles was Madison’s first Latino poet laureate.
by Jonathan Gramling
Oscar Mireles, Madison’s former poet laureate, has been active in Madison’s art scene for many years. As he neared retirement, he decided to formalize that work into LOUD, Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development. One of the projects that Mireles undertook through LOUD was the Wisconsin Conference on Latino Arts and Culture held at Centro Hispano’s Calli on May 2-3.
The conference was just a part of regular cultural events that LOUD picks up from other groups or creates itself that Mireles hopes LOUD will sponsor each year.
In May, around the time of Cinco de Mayo, LOUD sponsors the Latino Art Fair, which was held in conjunction with the arts conference.
“LOUD kind of came at the right time,” Mireles said. “The Latino Chamber of Commerce had been doing the Latino Art Fair for about eight years. I was familiar with it because I read poetry for the first one they had. And when they transitioned over to the Madison Public Library, I also read poetry. At Overture, I also read poetry as an artist at the Latino Art Fair. As they were transitioning to getting a lot of federal resources after COVID, they shared that they weren’t going to do the art fair. They thought it might be something that I might be interested in taking over with LOUD. So part of it was it was a timely thing and it was a good transition versus just letting it die.”
LOUD has also gotten involved in Día de los Muertos celebrations.
“Professor Carolyn Smythe Kellenborn was doing a Day of the Dead celebration featuring altar boxes,” Mireles said. “She had been doing that for a number of years. She had come to some of the Art Parties that I organized. And my wife Diana and I did altar boxes one year to honor my grandfather. Diana did it to honor her brother. We got involved in making an altar. And even though it’s a little box, it’s a lot more involved. So I got a chance to work with her as a participant. And then when they had the presentations, she asked if I would speak about the creation of the altar and who it was honoring. After that when she had a full sense of what it was, she asked if that was something that LOUD would be interested in taking over. Once again, it was something that was going on for a while. As you well know, things kind of go and you need some principle people to drive it forward. As those people move on, you have to have a transition plan. I know with the Juneteenth celebration, it looks like they now have a transition plan. If you don’t have that, then a lot of things just disappear. And then a couple of years later, people say, ‘Hey whatever happened to that?’”
The third piece is the Latin Music Festival that is held at the Majestic Theater on King Street the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was started and managed for many years by Ricardo Gonzalez who was looking to transition out of the management duties.
“He asked me if I was interested in transitioning it over,” Mireles said. “We did that last year. LOUD is honoring the legacy of what other people were doing and we’ve been blessed that they have kind of take it on.”
If this were all that Mireles was doing through LOUD, it would be an easy retirement with activities spaced throughout the year. But Mireles has also been involved in Art Party.
“We were remodeling Omega School,” Mireles said. “We were able to, during the renovation, add additional track lighting to that which also existed to create a lower level gallery at Omega School. The LOUD Gallery at Omega happened about 1-2 years later as we were renovating our building. I hadn’t full envisioned that when we were renovating. I think it was a benefit to Omega because it really brought a lot of community people in to see the art work and then learn about Omega.”
And then there is the anthology of poetry that Mireles is in the final stages of producing.
“Something that I did as poet laureate was a book ‘I Didn’t Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin,’” Mireles said. “I knew when I returned I would want to do a fourth installment of the book. We’re in the process of doing a fourth anthology. On Thursday, I will be at the APPLETON Public Library, I will be doing a reading to share my artwork and selections from the newer poets who will be included. And secondly — and more importantly — we are encouraging people who might come and have an interest in Latino poetry to really get more submissions from that Fox Valley area. It’s a combination of poetry reading and recruitment. The second thing about the book is that we are going to feature 50 new writers. We are really expanding the tent and getting newer voices and different voices involved. We have several musicians and several academics who have their own careers, but haven’t written or submitted poetry. We definitely have some new voices. You might remember Denora Marquez from the Latino Strings Art Program. She submitted a poem that she wrote about her daughter’s braids. I didn’t realize she was a writer. It’s just a powerful kind of piece.”
Retirement Oscar Mireles style feels more like full-time work to others. But Mireles’ love of Latine culture and desire to see it flourish in Madison and Wisconsin propels him forward. It is a sense of purpose that keeps Mireles getting up out of bed each morning to meet the challenges of the day. And what a grand purpose it is.