Austin Convention Center Department Partners With Mexic-Arte Museum’s Viva La Vida Festival

October 28, 2021

AUSTIN, Texas – The Austin Convention Center Department is a proud partner of the upcoming Viva la Vida 38th Annual Festival event to be held in downtown Austin on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. The festival will showcase in-person and virtual events hosted at the Mexic-Arte Museum from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Officially titled the Viva La Vida Fest 2021 - Goes Virtual! Celebrating Day of the Dead, Presented by the Austin Convention Center, the event has been celebrating Dia de Los Muertos in Austin since 1984. The Mexic-Arte Museum shares the virtual festival with viewers from all over Austin, to people across the world, expanding the popular festival. Virtual programs can be found at www.mexic-artemuseum.org.

“Events this year will be in-person and virtual. This is Austin’s largest and longest Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival and parade, and is the largest in Texas,” said Sylvia Orozco, Mexic-Arte Museum Executive Director. “Dia de Los Muertos is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives. I would describe it as a brief return and reunion with festivities including drinks, food, music, prayer, and dance to celebrate and not mourn the remembrance of friends and family members who have died.”

In-person Viva La Vida Fest events will take place at the Mexic-Arte Museum on 5th Street and Congress Ave. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free outdoor programs at the festival include a sidewalk display of large parade props (Mojigangas), including La Catrina, skeleton musicians, magical alebrjes, and the Bike Zoo’s butterflies, the bat, and owl. Austin Lowriding will exhibit artful cars.

Families can take photos of the Ofrenda Mural on 5th Street and animate it with their phones to make the mural come alive. At Frost Tower Plaza, kids can see demos and pick up free take-home Day of the Dead art kits to make paper banners and marigolds.

The Mexic-Arte Museum is located half a mile, only about five blocks, from the Austin Convention Center. Located at 419 Congress Ave in downtown Austin, the Museum is the official Mexican & Mexican-American Museum of Texas. The Museum provides enriching educational programs and exhibitions and is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of Mexican, Latino, and Latin-American art and culture.

Starting at 10 a.m. inside the museum, there will be music by Eduardo Cassapia, “El Qolla,” and at 11 a.m., there will be a book presentation and signing of Dining with the Dead: A Feast for the Souls on Day of the Dead by Mariana Nuño Ruiz McEnroe. During the day, there will be wandering musicians in costumes performing throughout the galleries. Musicians include Angel Ibanez, Mi Trova, Cuitlahuac Ortiz and La Catrina & Jose Guadalupe Posada – Lucia & Francisco Chavez.

Admission to the Museum is $7 for adults, $4 for seniors, active military, veterans, and students, and $1 for children 12 and under. Admission is free to Mexic-Arte members. The first 200 people will receive a complimentary pan de muerto, a tasty Day of the Dead bread.

“Mexic-Arte’s Viva la Vida celebration infuses an ancient Mesoamerican cultural tradition with the essence of Austin. At 38 years, it’s one of the longest-running and most popular Dia de Los Muertos celebrations in America,” said Carla Nickerson, Austin Convention Center Department (ACCD) Program Manager, Community Services, and art program facilitator. “This event helps to reinforce Austin’s standing as a top destination city. ACCD’s affiliation and aligns with our focus on positively impacting our community in all that we do.”

Serie Print Project Exhibit at the Austin Convention Center

The Austin Convention Center has screenprints and works from Sam Z. Coronado on permanent display. The screenprints at the Austin Convention Center are not a part of the Vida La Liva activities, but are part of the building’s art collection, exhibits, and visual arts program. The late Coronado was a co-founder of the Mexic-Arte Museum.

The visual arts collection at the Austin Convention Center Department encompasses 33 exhibits and installations by 30 different artists that are designed into the building, parking garages, and in the Palmer Events Center.

Some art exhibits are part of the AIPP (Art in Public Places) program, with several iconic pieces commissioned as part of the capital improvement budget for the original construction of the Austin Convention Center and subsequent additions. In addition to AIPP, the Austin Convention Center Department began acquiring additional works by regionally accomplished artists which can be found in various spots throughout the facility.

The wide range of art media in the Austin Convention Center collection includes acrylic, aluminum, canvases, copper, digital photography, dye-cuts, framed art prints, glass, murals, oil, limestone, salvaged and recycled materials, screenprints, tile, and zinc-plated steel.

For more information about the art collection and artists on display at the Austin Convention Center Department, go to www.austinconventioncenter.com/visual-art-collection/.