A group of Latino artists, communicators, politicians and advocates gathered in the first week of September for the “Raizado Festival”, a gathering that seeks to address issues that affect the Latino community.

In the festival program, important issues were addressed to this population. To that end, there was a variety of discussions on topics such as education, wealth building, erasure of Latino identity, representation in publishing, Hispanics in philanthropy and more, all through a Latino lens.

The organizers of “Festival Raizado” – the Spanish name for “rooted” – purposely chose Aspen, a place where powerful groups hold summits that shape the future of industry, philanthropy and civil society organizations.

“The Raizado Festival is a coming together of 250 people from across our country who are all leaders, from the farm-working women and domestic workers who are here, to the actors, the musicians, the organizers and folks in philanthropy and business”, according to Mónica Ramírez, co-founder of Latinx House, the organization of the event for The Hill.

“The Latinx House, an organization known primarily for its advocacy for Latino voices in film and entertainment, had previously hosted events at the Sundance Film Festival. But the Raizado Festival, a brainchild of Latinx House co-founders Ramírez and producer Olga Segura, is a standalone project focusing on a wide range of issues affecting the Hispanic community”.

Of the festival’s 250 tickets, 40 were reserved for workers who are members of the local Latino community, a group whose leaders say they often feel excluded from events in Aspen.

According to NBC News, “The event has a clearly progressive, although not partisan, bent, with support from the Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic network founded by business magnate George Soros. It also is backed by the Ford Foundation”.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, spoke before the procession remembering Latinos who died of gun violence, some in shooting massacres at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and in classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, according to NBC publication.

For Castro, “Latinos came together at the festival “to change things and to make a difference. I fundamentally believe right now that Americans don’t know who Latinos are, because our stories and our histories have not been told. Being unknown is not only culturally insensitive; it is dangerous. But Latinos aren’t without power or agency”.

The event also aimed to attract more investment to the Latino community.

“Carmen Rojas is the CEO and president of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, one of the event’s lead sponsors. Rojas, one of the speakers Wednesday, is the only Latina leading a major philanthropic foundation that gives $40 million to $60 million a year across the country”, according to NBC.

Organizers directed some of the funding to Latino-owned and operated businesses and hired all-Latino professionals for the event, including chefs, hair stylists, makeup artists, visual artists and performers, among others.