MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) – On March 7, Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture announced a fundraiser in support of the youth mariachi orchestra program.

After years in the planning stages and having received several grant awards, the collaboration between the Alliance for Hispanic Advancement, the Marysville Joint Unified School District and Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture has paid off. Support from the community is needed to keep this culturally relevant program alive and well for students. Currently based at Arboga School, the program is led by music educators Deanna Olson and Lalo Barriga, with support from several other instructors.

Now a part of the Marysville Joint Unified School District curriculum, and soon to be offered in Sutter County schools as well, the youth mariachi musicians are ready to perform for a wider audience.

Help raise funds for additional instruments and mariachi uniforms as the program expands by attending a fundraiser on Saturday, March 15 at the Sutter Theater Center for the Arts, 754 Plumas St. in Yuba City. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. The cost is $25 per ticket, which includes dinner and the concert.

The history of mariachi dates to the 18th-century and evolved over time in the countryside of western Mexico. Modifications of the music over the years included influences from other musical genres, the addition of trumpets, and the wearing of charro outfits by mariachi musicians. There are many mariachi styles and include corridos, cumbias, boleros, ballads, marches, polkas and waltzes. Most of the lyrics are about machismo, love, betrayal, death, politics, revolutionary heroes and country life.

As an added attraction, the newly-formed ballet folklorico dance ensemble from Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts will perform. Folklorico is a collective term for traditional cultural dances that emphasize local folk culture with ballet characteristics. The folk dances are done in villages throughout Mexico, the Southwestern United States and Central American countries. 

This concert is in celebration of these unique music and dance forms being performed by students who will be the next generation of culture bearers and who are part of the cultural diversity of Yuba-Sutter. 

Yuba Sutter Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide arts programming, education, advocacy, assistance and service to artists, organizations and residents in Yuba and Sutter counties. The California Arts Council’s local affiliate programs include Arts in Education, Veterans Initiatives in the Arts, Yuba Sutter Big Band, Very Special Arts Festival, Center Stage Youth Performing Arts and Convergence Theatre Co.