Despabila! is a collective that works at the intersection of art and social justice, with an emphasis on Latin America and U.S. communities of color. In Spanish, despabila means "wake up, wise up, shine brighter." We came together as artists, writers, and cultural activists after the 2019 Chilean protests and founded Despabila! with the hope of empowering people to use their voices and actively participate in their communities. Motivated by the ways social movements in Chile and beyond have drawn on the arts to call for social justice, our mission is to foster artistic expression as a means to educate, inspire, and strengthen connections among movements for change. While we live in Thurston, Pierce, and King counties, most of us come to this work as Latin American immigrants: our background inspires us to work transnationally to connect local communities with those in our countries of origin, and horizontally to build solidarity with local communities of color. In all of our work, we draw intentionally on Latin American heritages and cultural forms.
