UCLA Extension Hears the Sound of <i> Musica </i> in Attracting Latinos

The producer says it will end with a huge chain dance and good vibes.

But former Disney studio producer-director Frank Zuniga isn’t describing a movie crowd scene, a religious crusade or a rock video. He’s talking about how he’s going to use show business to sell UCLA Extension to the Latino community of Los Angeles.

Specifically, Zuniga is talking about Festival Latino, an April 26 campus open house designed to splashily advertise the university’s continuing education division to a group seen as crucial to Extension’s future financial health. This unusual--perhaps unprecedented--institutional bow to the changing demographics of Southern California is billed as a one-day celebration of Latin and South American arts and culture that will turn the university’s sculpture garden--and nearby classrooms--into a combination bandstand, dance hall, seminar, film showcase, crafts exhibit and fast-food restaurant.

Among other things, Zuniga plans to cap the festival with an invitation to the audience to link up in a chain dance led by Embrasamba, a Brazilian dance ensemble. Other dance groups also will step off stage to encourage the audience to participate, Zuniga said.

By supplying free bus rides, working with community groups and kicking off an extensive electronic and print promotion this week, Extension spokesmen predict the academic fair will draw a crowd of 10,000. It also should earn good will and help attract fee-paying Latino students to its 4,500 courses, seminars and weekend programs, they added. Now, about 5% of the Extension’s 100,000 students are Latino. That percentage is much too low, especially in light of projected increases in Southern California’s Latino population, Extension Dean Leonard Freedman said.

“To a considerable extent our future as an institution is going to be affected by how many Latinos we attract,” Freedman said, noting that UCLA Extension is entirely self-supporting and has been largely isolated “psychologically and geographically” from Latinos. Stressing that the festival marks the beginning of a long-term effort, Freedman said families are being encouraged to bring their children to the event. “When they’ve (children) been through UCLA, we’ll be ready for them in Extension,” he joked.

Eventually, Freedman said, the Extension will offer a wider variety of courses at more convenient locations than the Westwood campus, particularly at its downtown center. Courses will be designed to appeal primarily to the professional and career interests of English-speaking Latinos with some college, the dean said. Extension offers a few courses in Spanish now and will expand those offerings if there is sufficient demand, another spokesman said

Independent Film Maker

UCLA graduate Zuniga, an independent film maker who was at Disney 18 years and whose directing credits include “Wilderness Family II,” said that the $40,000 festival is an example of the “bridge-building” between Latino, Anglo and other cultures he believes is necessary if the Los Angeles region is to successfully weather a “tidal wave” of demographic change.

The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimates that California’s Latino population will rise from 5.7 million, or 21.6% of total population, to 32.3%, or 11.9 million by 2020. Another estimate projects that the Southern California region’s population of 18.3 million in 2010 will be nearly 40% Latino, up from about 25% of 12.3 million now.

In what apparently is an attempt to appeal to all ages, tastes and intellects, the Extension has crammed a multitude of events into the festival. Besides dancing, the audience can hear a concert by jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his band or attend “mini-lectures” on Chicano literature, Latino influences in California architecture, cultures of the ancient Andes, Jewish culture in Latin America, the natural history of the Amazon River Basin. They may also watch documentaries on rural life in Argentina and demonstrations on how to make pinatas and hand-painted fabrics. There also will be readings by local poets, puppet theater and bilingual tours of the campus.

In addition to the festival, UCLA Extension is offering a number of courses on Latin and South American history, literature, film makers, music and cuisine in its spring quarter.