Join us for a storytelling night centered on the lived experiences, histories, and identities that shape our communities. Facilitated by cultural worker, artist, and storyteller John Jairo Valencia, this teach-in will introduce storytelling as a practice of cultural memory, community building, resistance, and collective healing. Following the interactive lesson and reflection, students are invited to share performances—including spoken word, poetry, narratives, and music—while practicing collective listening and reflection around themes of identity, belonging, resilience, migration, family, disability, and resistance.
Through storytelling, participants will have the opportunity to connect across identities and recognize the ways our individual experiences are connected to broader histories and communities.
John Jairo Valencia is a Two-Spirit Xicanx/Colombian artist, herbalist, dancer, storyteller, cultural worker, and scholar who grew up on Gabrielino/Tongva/Kizh territory in California. For over 10 years, they have facilitated workshops, cultural programs, and community projects centered on art, culture, storytelling, and collective learning.
Their artwork has been exhibited throughout California and Texas, and they have collaborated with social justice and cultural organizations as a freelance illustrator and animator. Since 2020, they have also co-facilitated Hood Herbalism, an autonomous QTBIPOC-led community herbal education project.
John Jairo is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Chicana/o Studies at UC Santa Barbara and works with Las Maestras Center for Xicana[x] Indigenous Thought, Art and Social Praxis. Their work explores storytelling and cultural memory as liberatory and decolonizing practices that can strengthen relationships, preserve community histories, and create space for collective healing.
You can learn more about their work at elotedreamz.com
