LA CHOLOTECA // para la cultura!.. — ARTIST TO LOOK OUT FOR

If you’re not familiar with La Choloteca already, allow me to introduce you.

La Choloteca is an Atlanta queer Latinx dance party + brand that connects Latinx culture to social justice issues. What started as a house party in the Summer of 2016 has since grown to a monthly, must-go-to event in the city.

“La Choloteca began after realizing that there wasn't really a space, not just for Latinx people, but specifically queer Latinx people in the city of Atlanta,” says Co-founder Kenneth Figueroa (aka Esmé), “And that's after many years of learning to love ourselves, and wanting to spread the message that it’s okay to be who you are and where you're from, especially with the rhetoric that was happening around the time Trump got elected.”

Along with his cousins Josephine Figueroa & Edric Figueroa, the group throws parties with a mission, working with community partners + leaders, as well as local businesses + non-profit organizations to educate communities, provide resources, and promote inclusivity.

Like many businesses in the nightlife industry, La Choloteca had to pivot into the virtual space due to the pandemic. The brand is relaunching their GoFundMe to support their efforts in building more music + media content, continuing their focus on working with local and Southern creators + artists.

I had the chance to catch up with Kenneth about the brand’s evolution, the power of music + community initiatives, and the necessity for inclusive spaces like La Choloteca.

Kenneth has been involved in the local music and nightlife scenes of Atlanta for over 10 years and is especially dedicated to creating queer experiences for the blossoming Latinx community through his dance parties. He is vocal + concerned about social justice issues, is actively involved in his community, understanding the importance of working on the ground level, and uses his platform to educate + bring communities together.

Meet the team & read his interview below.

**KENNETH FIGUEROA**

**Co-founder / DJ / Hairstylist**
Kenneth Figueroa, or Esmé, is a queer, first generation Peruvian-American DJ and hairstylist based in Atlanta. He has been involved in the local music and nightlife scenes of Atlanta for over 10 years with a special dedication to creating queer experiences for the blossoming Latinx community. Esmé believes that dance floors offer a space for healing, transcending, and resisting. Growing up in the South, they want to show the rest of the world the rich, cultural, and queer diversity often unseen in the region in the midst of mass gentrification and displacement. Their sets range from old school cumbia to rock en espanol to queer neoperreo.

**JOSEPHINE FIGUEROA**

**Co-founder / Multimedia Artist**
Josephine Figueroa is a Peruvian lens-based multimedia artist and Co-founder of La Choloteca. Through diverse artistic avenues she has drawn attention to Latinx narratives in the South, specifically the intersection of political identity with pop culture. As an artist she’s interested in producing socially responsible community engagement projects that encourage citywide conversations and catalysts for collective action. Josephine has over 10 years of experience working with local art and social justice movements, believing that art can be used to manifest what is possible for the changing landscape and future of the city of Atlanta. Her creative voice captures the delicate space between class division and the cultural power of diasporic hybridity.

**EDRIC FIGUEROA**

**Community Organizer**
Edric Figueroa is a queer, Peruvian-American raised in Georgia who strives to build self-determination, embrace the intersections of identity, and address the structural determinants of oppression throughout his endeavors. Edric brings ten years of community organizing experience to La Choloteca and stays loving, grateful, and accountable to his values through art, organizing, and a community that stretches across coasts and borders.

FOLLOW LA CHOLOTECA ON SPOTIFY / SOUNDCLOUD! (Photograph by NECROMANNY) — **FOLLOW LA CHOLOTECA ON** **SPOTIFY** / **SOUNDCLOUD**! (Photograph by NECROMANNY)

What does the term Latinx represent to you?

It's interesting to talk about the word Latinx because it is such an academic word, and especially an American word. Like, people in Latin American countries don't really use it, there's another word called Latine that more people use. But I like the term Latinx because it still serves the same purpose of being dismissive of colonization and gender roles, and needing to identify with a gender. I read something once - someone talking about the differences between using Latine and Latinx, and they said that they liked using Latinx especially when they write because just the actual action of drawing an ‘x’ just seems so radical and I really liked that. It’s also hard to pronounce; people don't understand it. That's how a lot of Latinx people have felt their whole lives. But I'm always open to learning different ways to express ourselves because Latinidad, in general, is such a broad and vague thing to talk about. What does it really mean? Who can be, can’t be? It's all just about developing this colonized language to fit what we need because we all speak like this now anyway, but let's turn it back on them and show how we didn't have to have gendered language back in our indigenous lands & languages. I feel like that's finally a conversation that's happening.

How has La Choloteca evolved since its inception?

La Choloteca started in the Summer of 2016, and it was very soon after Pulse happened, and all the anti-Latinx rhetoric from Trump running for President, but even more so from his following that just came out of the woodwork. So we started off literally as a house party; it was me, my cousin, Josephine Figueroa, and our friends Monica Campana & Randall Ruiz. It was such a great party that we tried to figure out how we can make this an actual event. We ended up getting a sponsorship with PBR from Luis Sandoval, who after our first actual event at Star Bar became a part of the team. Our first event was packed – like a line around the building the whole time, and it was just a really beautiful thing because I didn't think anyone would come. Doing something once a month kind of just kind of fell into our laps because of how big that event was. Personally, I wanted more brown and black queer spaces, and we always wanted to have something that helps the community. We didn't want to just be a party; it's a party with a mission. Eventually, Monica, Randall, and Luis decided to leave the team, but my cousin (Josephine’s brother) Edric joined us and has been helping us center parties around social justice and sexual & mental health awareness in black and brown communities. Not just bringing awareness, but also now providing resources and working with organizations that help marginalized communities in Atlanta.

In your opinion, what power does music have?

I think music is so healing. It just takes you to a different place and then allows you to escape your body for a moment and get lost in it. I think that also kind of sets [La Choloteca] apart. I don't even realize it because how I play music on the daily it's just going to always be random; sometimes it will be old school tracks, then some dirty reggaeton, then maybe some sad folky song (we don’t play those until the end of the night - ha!). People always say that the music is all over the place but in a good way, you know. It's very easy to get limited I think in a way, so that’s the thing with La Choloteca is the variety. It's a little bit of something for everybody. And that's always what I wanted for it. As much as I love all of our old school stuff I'm like, we exist in the modern realm too, and not just in like reggaeton or hip hop. So, we make some great electronic music and we make some good sad girl music or whatever you need. There's so much amazing music that isn't accounted for coming out of the global South, and I love to dig that out and find it especially because I am such a goth kid at heart. Just recently, I got to do a playlist for my friend’s collective (F)ront (R)ight (S)peaker, and it was all more goth- Halloween themed, but I still wanted it to be Latinx artists to show our audiences new music and encourage them to listen to different music.

“We're culture creators, and that's why we deserve to have these spaces because we deserve the energy that we put out there to come back to us.” - Kenneth Figueroa

What rituals have helped keep you grounded?

I definitely do a lot of candle & incense work, knowing how to mix them with different scents and herbs. That usually helps just to keep my space feeling safe. And I think from the get-go I've always – as much as I love all the projects I can get into – I've always been very adamant about making sure that I'm taking my private time, and doing or not doing things because I'm like ‘I need to look out for me’. I'm never gonna let anything consume me completely because if I don't have that strength within myself then what use am I going to be for the community. It's been hard sometimes. You know, I just recently watched that Dolly Parton documentary on Netflix and she kind of did the same thing: she kept her private life her private life, and I'm a very open person but like, when I need to go, I'm gonna go. I just have always allowed myself the space to do that. Learning that you can't do everything is something that just comes with age.

Why do spaces like La Choloteca matter?

I think in our world right now, in this country – this rapid gentrification that’s happening everywhere, it’s super important to create spaces like La Choloteca. To claim that we're here and you can't use us for your benefit without giving back to us; we won't allow it. Especially in Atlanta, there are spaces that are heavily Latinx, but it’s only in certain areas, but we deserve to have safe spaces everywhere. We have all of these awesome restaurants and Latin inspired stores, but they're owned by white people. We need to be the ones sharing this with the world because it's our culture, it's our histories. We're culture creators, and that's why we deserve to have these spaces because we deserve the energy that we put out there to come back to us.

You and your team have been very active + vocal in local, state, and national elections. Have you seen a shift in Atlanta when it comes to public interest in politics?

I have. It's interesting. I mean, within the last four years voter turnout has grown immensely, especially when Stacey Abrams was running for Governor. There were so many groups that were out there canvassing for her, getting people involved. It all comes with a grain of salt though, you know? There are people that do support us and fight for us, but at the core, we all know that this system is broken. We don’t want it anymore; we want something new that truly serves us. I think we're now seeing a shift in people being like ‘voting to us is the bare minimum’. We're out here organizing and protesting, but it means nothing if you’re not listening to Black people and Black femmes & women, especially because they’re the most marginalized. They are the ones that are needing liberations & reparations the most. But as it goes, it starts to lose steam because I think a lot of times there’s not an actual plan of action or a strategy to work with. It’s hard, especially now in a pandemic to plan meetings, to be like let’s talk about this, reach a collective ideology, and talk about what we want – what we’re going to represent. So yea, I’ve definitely seen growth, but what we want isn’t going to happen with what we have.

Why do you think it’s important for communities to be politically involved?

Our existence is a political act of resistance. I think that's why we don't really have a choice – if we want better for our communities, and the communities that get it worse than us, then we have to realize that we only have our freedoms because of their fights. We can't have the true freedom that we think we deserve unless, for lack of better words, the person at the bottom of the totem pole does.

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Interview by Rahel Tekle