With support from the California Arts Council, the Mariachi Women’s Foundation will partner with LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell program to expand access to culturally relevant arts education for youth in seven East Los Angeles middle and high schools. Students will attend out-of-school mariachi workshops at Garfield High School, led by professional mariachi musicians. These workshops will offer youth meaningful opportunities to connect with their cultural heritage, build artistic skills, and develop confidence and creative voice. Participants will form a positive social network of like-minded peers and establish mentoring relationships with professional musicians. This program promotes lifelong engagement in the arts and fosters a deeper understanding of identity, history, and community through mariachi music. Youth will emerge as culturally literate, creative citizens with the tools to participate in and contribute to the arts.
Core Programs and Services include:
1. MARIACHI MUSIC PERFORMANCE
a. The Annual International Mariachi Women’s Festival – held in Los Angeles, mariachi women’s group from California, the U.S. and abroad (Mexico, Canada, and Europe) participate.
b. The Mariachi Women Warriors Tour – Mariachi women’s groups travel and are presented in venues outside of Southern California. The tour provides mariachi women with performance opportunities, highlights their important role as cultural bearers, and exposes new communities to mariachi women’s performances.
2. MARIACHI MUSIC EDUCATION
a. The Mariachi Women’s Music Institute – Provides teaching opportunities for mariachi women. Additionally, mariachi music workshops are provided with a special focus on teaching the two instruments women are most discouraged to learn, trumpet and guitarron (bass).
b. Mariachi Pathways for Youth – Provides youth training opportunities through i) The Mariachi Youth Showcase – a stage for local and visiting youth mariachi groups ii) Mariachi Instruction & Performance Demonstrations in collaboration with school districts and community organizations iii) Mariachi Femenil for Girls – training for youth all female mariachi groups and iv) The Mariachi College and Career Conference – provides guidance on linking mariachi experience and skills to both music and non-music college degrees (i.e. STEM, Medical, Humanities) and professional careers.
3. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community presentations (i.e. talks, exhibits and films) dialogues, performance demonstrations and cross-cultural exchanges that highlight the performances, history, culture, and lived experiences of mariachi women and girls.

