Cultura Fest 2025
A Celebration of Culture, Community & Connection

On August 23, 2025, downtown South San Francisco came alive with Cultura Fest, transforming Grand Avenue into a living canvas of Salvadoran and Latin American music, art, dance, cuisine, and storytelling.

Designed as both a homecoming and a cultural narrative, the festival brought families, neighbors, and friends together in a space rooted in creativity, reflection, and celebration.

Made possible through the belief and generosity of community leaders and partners—including Mayor Eddie Flores, the City of South San Francisco, El Concilio of San Mateo County, College Advising Prep, and the South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce—

Cultura Fest stood as a powerful example of collective vision. a community Supported by sponsors, volunteers, artists, performers, vendors, and attendees, the free festival became a space of cultural pride creating healing, nostalgia, connection.

he Vibe Stage featured high-energy performances from Salvadoran and Latin American artists. The performance spurred spontaneous dancing, cultural movement, and an immersive atmosphere from beginning to end.

Speakers

Vibe
STAGE

Cultura Fest featured an unforgettable night of music, culture, and community! From classic cumbia to cumbia rap and modern Latin beats, the concert featured legends like Tito Mira, genre-benders like Báyonics, and high-energy sets from Crooked Stilo, Cathia, Tony Escoto, DJ Discodelica, and MC by Hoozay the Self Appointed Salvadoran Ambassador.

It’s was a celebration and Latin American pride, with an emphasis of Salvadoran rhythm, and sounds.

Tito Mira y Su Chanchona

Cumbia - Founder of La Chanchona de Tito Mira, Tito Mira is a Salvadoran cumbia icon known for lively accordion-driven music and humorous lyrics. He’s a beloved figure in El Salvador and beyond since the ’90s.

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Crooked Stilo

Cumbia Rap - Latin Billboard-nominated Salvadoran-American brothers Victor and Johnny López make up Crooked Stilo, a hip-hop/reggaetón duo blending Latin beats with West Coast style. Known for bilingual rhymes and urban fusion since the early 2000s.

TBD

Punta

Cathia

Cumbia Pop - Cathia is a Salvadoran-American singer blending Latin pop and R&B with classical tones. The Voice finalist, she’s recognized for her soulful voice and advocacy of Latin artists.

Bayonics

Reggae - A San Francisco band mixing Latin, funk, reggae, and soul with socially conscious lyrics. They’re a staple in the Bay Area Latin/urban music scene, known for high-energy shows and cultural pride.

Majoo aka Discodelica

Hoozay

Comedian/Content Creator

Hoozay is a Salvadoran-American comedian known for his sharp wit, relatable storytelling, and lively stage presence. With a stand-up special on Amazon Prime, he brings humor that celebrates Salvadoran culture while connecting with diverse audiences—making him a standout in the Latino comedy scene.

DJ - Born in Santa Ana, El Salvador and based in San Francisco, Majoo is a DJ, vinyl collector, and co-founder of Discodelic. For over 14 years, she’s preserved rare Salvadoran and Central American records from the ’60s and ’70s. Her sets blend Latin, Afro-tropical, Caribbean, and psychedelic sounds, and she’s played across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.

Tony Escoto, Bayuncos

Content Creator/Musician - Tony Escoto is a Salvadoran-American comedian and musician known for his engaging performances and cultural contributions. As the founder of Bayuncos, he blends humor and music to celebrate Salvadoran heritage.

Art
GALLERY

The art gallery hosted at City Hall, offered a space to explore Salvadoran and Central American identity through visual arts. The exhibition showcased a story of evolving identity via traditional works, migration, and diasporic expressions.

Josué Rojas

A Salvadoran-American artist and educator from San Francisco. His work mixes graffiti and Central American folklore to explore identity and community. He’s exhibited widely and aims to spark cultural dialogue through his art.

Ester Garcia

A Salvadoran-born artist and Mission District elder who began painting at 75 during the pandemic, guided by her son, Josué Rojas. Her work blends faith, resilience, and community, bringing powerful life experience to public murals across San Francisco.

Victor Cartagena

Salvadoran-born artist based in San Francisco whose mixed-media work explores immigration, identity, and social justice. He has been making art in the Bay Area since the 1980s, with exhibitions in major institutions like UC Berkeley and the Oakland Museum. His work blends personal history with powerful commentary, inspiring reflection and dialogue.

Jayson Valencia

A Salvadoran-American multi-media artist and founder of the Los Angeles-based LOVE Crew. With over 15 years in the skate and action sports industry, his art is deeply rooted in graffiti culture. He uses street art to spread one powerful message: LOVE. Each mural and piece is a personal reflection and form of healing—turning his life story into vibrant visual language.

Sueey Gutierrez

New York-based Salvadoran-Mayan artist known for bold mixed-media works exploring identity, culture, and memory. Her figurative art celebrates Indigenous-Latine women and fuses Mayan iconography with contemporary styles. Exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo shows at Ma’s House and Muñeca Arthouse.

Ricardo M. Velasquez

Born in 1951, Velasquez showed artistic talent early, exhibiting across El Salvador and Puerto Rico. He immigrated to San Francisco in 1976 during the civil war, working nights while pursuing art and studies at City College. A beloved father and grandfather, his legacy lives on through his humor, resilience, and artwork now shared by his family.

Kaelyn Andrade

A Mexican-Salvadoran artist and educator from Chicago. Her work blends art history, social media, and ancestral symbolism to explore identity and generational trauma. She works at the National Museum of Mexican Art and uses her art to challenge cultural norms and connect personal stories to larger social issues.

Marlon Romero

A Peruvian visionary and environmental artist from Pucallpa, at the edge of the Amazon Rainforest. His work blends shamanic traditions, personal visions, and rainforest landscapes to explore spirituality, healing, and indigenous belief systems. Marlon uses vibrant colors and detail to reveal the myths and beauty of the Amazon.

Elizabeth Umanzor

A first-generation Salvadoran-American artist based in Houston, Texas. Her murals and public art celebrate Latin American heritage, nature, and community through bold colors and symbolic imagery. Drawing inspiration from native wildlife, plants, and cultural motifs, Liz creates stories that connect identity and place.

Julia Rivera

A devoted mother, daughter, and friend, as well as a proud promoter of Salvadoran culture. Despite facing challenges, including a disability, she has pursued studies in art, agriculture, and marketing. As founder of the Pupusa Festival, she celebrates heritage, community, and tradition through vibrant cultural events.

Elizabeth Umanzor

Breena Nuñez was born and raised on the unceded land of the Ramaytush Ohlone in the San Francisco Peninsula and is of Salvadoran and Guatemalan descent. A cartoonist and co-founder of Laneha House, Breena creates comics exploring identity, queerness, and parenthood, publishing with The Nib, The New Yorker, and in anthologies.

Rebeca Flores

Rebeca Abadail Flores is a Salvadoreña-Mexican American artist from Fresno. She creates stories and large-scale sculptures rooted in culture and community. Her work has shown at SOMArts, Root Division, and Medicine for Nightmares, with writing in El Tecolote and The Acentos Review.

Kiara Aileen

Kiara Aileen Machado is a contemporary artist from Lynwood, California. Her work explores identity, cultural lineage, and intergenerational trauma. Kiara has created murals locally and internationally, highlighting migration, resilience, and the impacts of violence. Her art has exhibited across the U.S. and abroad and is held in permanent collections.

Rebeca Flores

Family & Community Experiences

Cultura Fest created spaces for multigenerational participation, inviting families to engage not just as spectators, but as co-creators of culture.

Interactive art was central to the festival.

The two temporary mural walls were art installations featuring two artists—Josue Rojas, a Salvadoran American, and Ju Young, a Korean American—each exploring what culture means to them. Once completed, the walls were opened to the public, inviting community members to paint and contribute. What emerged was a collective expression: a shared art piece shaped by many hands.

The installation reflects how, regardless of where we come from in the U.S., we are constantly influenced by other people’s cultures. These intersections create the vibrant colors we live within. The bold strokes, subtle textures, and intricate details represent the ways we carry what others leave with us—whether those encounters are joyful or painful. Ultimately, the piece reveals that every person we cross paths with, seen and unseen, helps shape who we become. Together, they form the art piece we call the self.

✍🏽 Poetry CompetitionThe teen poetry competition amplified young voices from across the Bay Area. Youth poets shared original work reflecting culture, identity, migration, and belonging, bringing honesty, urgency, and fresh perspective to the festival stage. Their performances reinforced the idea that storytelling is both inherited and evolving.