2022.07.22 “Little Central America, 1984”: A Sanctuary Then, and Now

Rothko Chapel

“Little Central America, 1984”: A Sanctuary Then, and Now Presented in partnership with DiverseWorks Pay What You Can $5-20 | In-person event with chair seating In advance of the Houston premiere of “Little Central America, 1984,” a performance that reanimates the history of the Sanctuary Movement that offered safe space to refugees fleeing Central American civil wars of the 1980s, performer-writers Elia Arce and Rubén Martínez offer a conversation about the role of art in solidarity and accompaniment. Drawing upon their first-hand witness of the civil wars of the 1980s and the subsequent creation of “Little Central Americas” in places like Houston, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington D.C., they contextualize the most recent refugee crisis. What place does Houston’s Central American community occupy in the city’s culture, politics and imagination? What role does artistic representation play in collective memory and healing? Sixto Wagan, project director of BIPOC Arts Network and Fund, served as interlocutor, joined by Allison Sáenz, a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Houston who has been recovering history about Houston’s sanctuary movement via oral histories.