The Latin American & Caribbean Festival

The Latin American & Caribbean Festival returns to Posvar Hall on Saturday, November 7, from 4 PM to 8 PM. It's put on by the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at the University of Pittsburgh, and it's free and open to the public.

If you've been around the city a while, you might recognize the name, but the festival has a longer history than most people realize. It started back in 1979, when CLAS Director Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Assistant to the Director June Belkin, and Assistant Director Shirley Kregar were talking about how to bring more awareness of Latin American cultures to Pittsburgh while involving the local Latin American communities. Kregar proposed the festival, and Alan Adelman organized and implemented the first edition, setting up the core elements that still define it today. Over four decades later, it's grown into one of the largest and most significant gatherings of Latin American and Latinx communities in Western Pennsylvania.

That history is a good way to understand what the festival is actually for. CLAS runs it with a specific mission: to showcase the diverse cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean right here in Pittsburgh, and to point students and the general public toward the region's cultural, educational, and community resources. It's less about a single performance and more about the broader presence of these cultures in the city.

You'll find it at 4200 Posvar Hall, 230 South Bouquet Street, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. It runs from 4 PM to 8 PM on Saturday, November 7, and it's free and open to everyone.