Photo by Maggie Vaughn
Juan Carlos Ruiz has been a community organizer since 1991 and is currently using celebration as a means to create change. He is the president of the Milwaukee Latino Carnaval, an annual festival and parade that joins a multitude of community organizations and artists into a celebration of Latino and African American culture. He likes to say that his work emerges from thinking outside the box, but the social mission of Carnaval goes further; Ruiz wants to reshape the box by creating unity and awareness of community issues through participation in an explosively colorful, fun event.
How did the Carnaval celebration get started here?
I wanted to serve the Latino and African American communities, so a couple of friends of mine and I decided to start a Latino Carnaval, something that could integrate all Latino communities and is based in our traditions. We did the first Carnaval in 2013. We started with a parade and ended with a small festival. We partnered with local nonprofit groups, local businesses and local artists and dancers. Once those folks performed in the parade, they found each other and that it was a great way to perform. The second parade came in stronger and we got a lot of businesses, nonprofit groups, local, regional and national, that are very much in support of the work that we do.
We’re using the Carnaval to unify our community, to unify and mesh, to bring forward issues. For example, this year the theme is “Honoring the African Diaspora.” What that means for us is that we have a strong African presence in Latino culture, and as part of the Carnaval we are connecting the issues with art, embracing our connection and making it the bridge between our communities through our art, food, history and our past.
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Why is this an important event for Milwaukee?
It was like the community was waiting for this opportunity. We partner with the Boys & Girls Club, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Milwaukee Public Theatre, BMO Harris Bank and so on. It’s a chance for all our communities in Wisconsin and Milwaukee to learn from each other. And it’s free! This year, we’re doing something very exciting. We have a symposium of alternative and folk medicine. We still grow up with herbs, pressure points, healing energies and shamans. We want to strengthen the opportunity for our people to take care of themselves with acupuncture and free screenings. It’s about how we educate and mobilize around the issues that are affecting the Latino community. People ask me, “Why don’t you move and do it at the Summerfest grounds?” This needs to be for the community, for everybody to come. It needs to be affordable for everybody so people can really enjoy it. Sometimes the day before people want to come and participate in the parade and we allow that because that’s how we view community.
For you, what’s the best part?
It’s to see the smiles of the children, the pride of the community members participating in the parade and the joy on the faces of the people. Just imagine that I’m from Peru and I’m proudly dancing in the parade, a dance that nobody knows, but a Peruvian person sees it and says, “Wow, that’s my country!” And after the parade, when you go to the festival grounds, you see people dancing—grandma dancing with her granddaughters, African Americans dancing with Latinos and Latinas. There’s no colors, no age, no sex. That’s the diversity that we create.
Events for the Milwaukee Latino Carnaval run July 22-25. For more information, visit milwaukeelatinocarnaval.com.