Greetings!
WELCOME! We’re delighted to offer this first BCA newsletter to you, our members and constituents! For a long time, we’ve known we need to find a way to stay in touch with all of you and so we’re pleased to be able to provide this communication channel. Our intent is to offer both reports on what has been happening and updates on future events and tours as they become available for registration. This newsletter is available electronically to all of you and as a surface (USPS) mailing to all who request it. Shauna Melvin will be handling circulation; you can reach her at
[email protected]
or through the office phone 520-398-3229. Questions or comments regarding content should be addressed to me, Jerry Haas at
[email protected]
. Thanks so much for your interest in “bridging the border and fostering community through education, collaboration and cultural exchange” (BCA’s mission).
Jerry Haas, Executive Director
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Tracing the Origins of Hispanic Culture & Pilgrimage
Tour May 27-June 8, 2018
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SPAIN! Twenty-two participants and three guides rendezvous on Monday May 28 in Madrid for BCA’s first overseas tour to Mexico’s Motherland. The tour encompasses the historic Northwest region of Spain, culminating along the coast at Santiago de Compostela. Tracing the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, participants on the tour will intersect with a variety of religious and cultural sites while visiting Burgos, Leon, Lugo and other cities. Alex La Pierre, BCA’s program director and historian extraordinaire, is resourcing the tour, along with his good friend Luis Valle, a native of Spain now a professor of architecture in Hermosillo. Rocio Preciado, Alex’ fiancé, is the very capable assistant tour guide, photographer and translator. A copy of the interactive itinerary is available here (link). Plans are already being laid for another tour to Spain next year so stay tuned!
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2018 INTERNS ARRIVING SOON!
When summer comes, BCA shifts gears from tours and classes to the summer internship program for college and university students. The goal of the program is to give participants a hands-on experience with broad exposure to the US-Mexico border including field trips, cultural exchange and lots of dialogue about “border issues” (economic, legal, humanitarian, public policy). This year’s students come from three universities: Science Po (Paris, France); University of North Carolina; George Washington University (Washington, DC). All have some proficiency in Spanish and some are fluent. Interns arrive June 17 and share rental housing in Nogales, Arizona. The program ends with a presentation by the interns at the
Tubac Center for the Arts on Friday, July 27 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
(the public is invited). Funding for this program comes from the BCA’s Folklorico Celebration (held March 4) and donations by friends like you! BCA provides housing for the students, a food stipend and lots of volunteer support. Many, many thanks to Diane Brooks for coordinating this program again this year and to her many helpers.
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Left to right: Maritza Black, Alexandra (Allie) Fischgrund, Avery Ellfeldt, Angela Gervasi, Leila Castro, Andrew Hirsh
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BCA PACKED THE HOUSE WITH FRANCISCO CANTÚ, former Border Patrol agent turned author, for the season-ending BCA Borderlands Forum event on Friday, May 18 at the Tubac Community Center. Cantú’s book
The Line Becomes the River: Dispatches from the Border
has been widely circulated thanks to clips included in the PBS
Newshour
and reviews by publications such as the
Wall Street Journal
. The book tells the story of Cantú’s four year tenure in the Border Patrol, followed by encounters with migrant realities in Tucson while completing his MFA. Cantú was joined in the presentation by BCA friend and author Peg Bowden and BCA program director Alex La Pierre. BCA has held more than twenty Borderlands Forum events and classes this season on a wide-range of topics. The fall season of tours and classes will be announced in early August.
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HIGHLIGHTS of the past season
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Executive Director, Jerry Haas with Alex La Pierre, BCA Program Director and Lupita, Adminstrative Assistant to Alma Cota de Yanez of FESAC
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In partnership with FESAC, BCA has encouraged and supported dozens of Mexican projects and non-profits including:
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San Juan Bosco migrant shelter
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Self-employment sewing workshop
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Deijuven Youth Center
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ARSOBO
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Autism center
Successfully sponsored and launched BYTE – Border Youth Tennis Exchange
Led more than 40 border awareness tours into Mexico for more than 500 people
Collaborated with the Mexican Consulate of Nogales, Arizona on various cultural and educational events
With support from the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation, organized The Borderlands Forum, offering more than 20 classes on topics as diverse as “History of Sonora” to “How to Make Tortillas”
Media recognition:
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New York Times – February 11, 2018
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Arizona Daily Star – March 25, 2018
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Green Valley News
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National Public Radio
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Tubac Villager
Special classes:
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“The Mezcales of Sonora” with Bill Steen
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“Videography in the Borderlands” with Mike Foster
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“Storytelling as Border Art” with Francisco Cantú, author of the book
The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border
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SUMMER FINANCIALS
While BCA’s expenses continue through the summer season, income sources from tours and classes diminish. Consider making a special summer gift or pledge to support our mission. We look forward to seeing you this fall!
Jerry Haas
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Tubac Office now open!
Summer hours
Tuesday & Wednesday
9:00 am -12:00 pm.
Additional hours by appointment.
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2221 E. Frontage Rd.
PO Box 1863
Tubac, AZ 85646
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