Remembering the Struggle: the Watsonville Cannery Strikes of 1985-1987 is a public remembrance process taking place from July to September 2008. [ more... ]
Supporting Organizations
The Exhibit Opens this week--Come and Celebrate on Friday, August 1st!
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 9:39am — Carmina EliasonDear Friends,
We are only a few days from opening the art exhibit, "Remembering the Struggle!" In this newsletter we've included details about the Opening Event, as well as the exciting press coverage we've received. Also, you can now reserve a copy of the commemorative poster designed and printed by artist Juan Fuentes. Read on for more details...
Opening Events on August 1st, 2008
2 pm Youth Mural Workshop | Taller de Murales para Jóvenes
Watsonville Plaza | Plaza de Watsonville
Youth of any age are invited to learn about the Watsonville cannery strike and participate in mural making with José Ortiz and Hijos del Sol. Los jóvenes están invitados a aprender acerca de la huelga de las empacadoras de alimentos de Watsonville y hacer un mural con José Ortiz e Hijos del Sol. Admisión gratuita
5 pm Viernes Cultural Event
Watsonville Plaza | Plaza de Watsonville
Remembering the Watsonville cannery strike through speakers, songs, poetry, and more. ¡Recordemos la huelga! Habrá oradores, poemas, música, canciones, y más.
6:30 pm Procession | Procesión
Procession with the former strikers, local unions, and the community from the Plaza to the Pajaro Valley Gallery. Procesión con los huelgistas, uniones locales, y la comunidad desde la Plaza hasta la Galería.
7-9 pm Public Opening Celebration
Celebración de Inaugaración
Pajaro Valley Gallery | Galería de Valle del Pájaro
Meet contributing artists, check out the art, and enjoy a Taste of Watsonville with local food and celebration. Codéate con los artistas y prueba y celebra “el sabor de Watsonville”.
Remembering the Struggle Featured on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM
Weekly radio program indynewswire featured a 40-minute segment with our exhibit curator, Carmina Eliason, and host Danielsan, where they discussed the Cannery Strikes and their impact on the community of Watsonville. She also discusses the upcoming exhibit and related community events taking place throughout the month of August.
Listen: MP3 File
Newspaper Coverage
The Register-Pajaronian, based in Watsonville, was the first area newspaper to run an article on Remembering the Struggle - and it graced the front page! A reporter and photographer interviewed the exhibit curator for the story. Coincidently, we were proud to share the front page with an article on Watsonville's first-ever gay pride parade being organized by the Watsonville Pride Subcommittee of SOMOS LBGT. We are collaborating with SOMOS LGBT and other organizations to hold a monthlong celebration of diversity and triumph in the Pajaro Valley. In addition to coverage in the Register-Pajaronian, the Santa Cruz Sentinel and the Metro are planning articles of their own.
We've also gotten coverage on the San Francisco Bay Area's premier source for independent news - indybay.org. Right now we're featured on the front page. Thanks to Danielsan from Radio Free Santa Cruz for writing us up.
Commemorative Exhibit Poster Available for Purchase
PVAC and Remembering the Struggle are pleased to offer for sale “Margaret’s Dream”—a limited edition silkscreen commemorating the exhibit Remembering the Struggle (seen at the top of this email). These large colorful posters are individually hand signed by the artist Juan Fuentes. The poster was hand-printed by the artist and includes photos from the strike.
You can reserve your copy now on the Remembering the Struggle website.
Event Schedule and Other Updates
Mon, 06/23/2008 - 11:20pm — Carmina EliasonWe have some exciting news to share with you about the "Remembering the Struggle" Art Exhibit, including information about the Opening Events, a new Strike Photo and Document Archive on our website, and a newly received grant. Read on for more details...
Opening Events on August 1st, 2008
If you have any questions, please contact Carmina at (831) 536-4436 or pvacStrikeExhibit@gmail.com 
Please mark your calendars for the "Remembering the Struggle" Opening Events!
5pm to 6:30pm | Watsonville Downtown Plaza
Viernes Cultural Community Remembrance Celebration with Speakers, Songs, Poetry, and more!
6:30pm | Procession from Plaza to Gallery
Procession with former Watsonville cannery strikers and the community
7pm to 9pm | Pajaro Valley Gallery
37 Sudden Street, Watsonville
Pajaro Valley Arts Council hosts the Exhibit Opening Reception
Meet and mingle with contributing artists and get a "taste of Watsonville" through local food and celebration
We look forward to seeing you there!
Related Community Events in August
Check out the following related events put on by an informal coalition of organizations in the spirit of remembering the struggle!
August 20 | Overcoming Racism and Building a Racially Just County
Contact: Joseph Barndt (831) 345-6349
August 21 | 6pm | Twentieth Anniversary Civil Rights Celebration: Dolores Cruz v. City of Watsonville 1988-2008
Fundraiser for the Pajaro Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club
Green Valley Grill, 40 Penny Lane in Watsonville
Tickets $35, Contact: Luis Alejo (831) 726-6032
August 22 | 6:30-8pm | Remembering the Watsonville Cannery Strike and Voting Rights Struggle: an evening with Cruz Gomez
Hosted by the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, Pajaro Valley Chapter
United Presbyterian Church, 112 East Beach Street, Watsonville (Parking in church lot, back of Watsonville Cabrillo Lot)
Free event, Community Potluck--bring a dish!
Contact: Jeanne Pirano, (831) 724-3846
Archive of Strike Photos and Documents
We have had the amazing good fortune to work with two archives so far, San Francisco State University's Labor Archives & Research Center and the Pajaro Valley Historical Association. Together, we are proud to announce that we have been able to create the largest online collection of Watsonville Cannery Strike materials in existence. The archive is available online now. The archives go a long way toward capturing the general milieu that Watsonville found itself in during the midst of the strikes. The images especially capture a sense of the strikes that simply cannot be replicated any other way. Our thanks go out to the photographers, many of whom we hope will join us during the exhibit opening. Photo by Kurt Ellison, Register-Pajaronian. Provided and digitized by the Labor Archives & Research Center. And lastly, I am happy to announce that we are a recipient of a Project Support Grant from the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. Thank you CCSCC and to all who helped in the grant writing process! Thanks for all of the support and please, feel free to email or call if you have questions. Let's continue the conversation!
The archive includes promotional materials used by strike participants, photographs from newspapers, and full newspaper articles. A majority of the material was digitized from the Frank Bardacke Collection at the Labor Archives & Research Center, and many thanks go out to the wonderful Catherine Powell, the Archives Director. We are actively seeking other participants to contribute to our growing digital archive. Please contact the curators or reply to this email for more information.Grant from the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County
Viernes Cultural Event Friday, June 6 in the Watsonville Plaza
Tue, 06/03/2008 - 10:25pm — Paul Alexander
We're working with Viernes Cultural to hold a commemoration event for the strike as part of the exhibit. For those unfamiliar with Viernes Cultural, it's a celebration held on the first Friday of every month that highlights the culture of Watsonville as part of a community celebration. A lot of dedicated folks make this happen month after month and the events are always rewarding to attend.
This month, the focus of the event is Celebrating Diversity. Here's what is planned:
Vive Oaxaca - Centeotl dance group | sangre antigua - fandango, live music | Rainbow Squad - WHS Cheerleading | Orators | Visual Arts | Poetry
Come out and celebrate with us this Friday in the Downtown Plaza!
Extension for Submissions
Wed, 05/21/2008 - 7:38pm — Carmina EliasonThe official deadline for art submissions has past and we've received some very exciting pieces! However, we have a feeling there might be a few more artists out there who have work they would like to submit. Please contact Carmina Eliason about a possible extension for your piece before June 1, 2008. We would hate to not include something meaningful and relevant to the show. You can reach Carmina at (831) 536-4436 or by email at pvacStrikeExhibit@gmail.com.
Reminder: Deadline for submission is Friday, May 16, 2008
Tue, 05/13/2008 - 10:06pm — Carmina Eliason
We've already received some great submissions and are looking forward to yours! Please visit the Artists page where you will find instructions on how to submit artwork. You may also download the instructions in PDF format here. If an extension to this deadline is needed you must contact Carmina Eliason at (831) 536-4436 by Friday, May 16th.
Looking for Volunteers, Materials, and Stories
People are bringing forward some really great materials for the exhibit and the website, but we are always in need of more so we can ensure that as many voices as possible are able to participate. If you have artwork or photographs you would like to share, please get in touch. We would also love for some volunteers to sit down and tell us their stories, especially strike participants. Finally, we're looking for some translators to help get materials for the website written in Spanish. Our goal is for this to be a truly bilingual space, but we need some help getting it there!
I'm working with a great organization, the Labor Archives & Research Center at San Francisco State University, and they have made available a vast amount of resources from their archives, including artwork created during the strike, news articles, and photographs. These mainly come from the Frank Bardake collection, which Mr. Bardake donated to LARC. These will all be added to the website soon, and we'll send out another announcement when they are available. However, if you are looking for images as inspiration, please let me know and we can make them available sooner. Thanks for all of the support and please, feel free to email or call if you have questions. Let's continue the conversation! More Updates Coming
The Continuing Struggle in Watsonville for Immigrant Rights
Fri, 05/02/2008 - 11:02am — Carmina Eliason
I was honored to be able to participate in the May Day March in Watsonville yesterday. The route that the march took covered some of the same areas that the cannery workers took during their marches and it was amazing to walk amongst people who are still fighting for similar rights 20 years later.
As a part of the events, I exhibited photographs that I took during the Watsonville May Day march in 2006, along with other photographers who had covered other marches from the last few years. It was amazing to see people look at the photographs and excitedly identify themselves or their friends and family members who were participating in the events. It's exactly the reaction I hope to elicit with my upcoming exhibit.
Naturally, this also led to conversations about Remembering the Struggle and it was incredibly rewarding to hear how excited people are about the exhibit and rememberance process. In fact, I was able to talk to someone who reported on the strike's conclusion in 1987. I am truly honored to be helping in bringing people and their stories together.
The other thing that came out of these conversations were offers of help and donations of artwork and archived media. People are bringing forward some really great materials for the exhibit and the website, but we are always in need of more so we can ensure that as many voices as possible are able to participate. If you have artwork or photographs you would like to share, please get in touch. We would also love for some volunteers to sit down and tell us their stories, especially strike participants. Finally, we're looking for some translators to help get materials for the website written in Spanish. Our goal is for this to be a truly bilingual space, but we need some help getting it there!
Thanks so much for all of the conversations yesterday, and thanks especially to the May Day participants who are keeping the struggle alive. We'll have some major additions to the website soon, including lots of historical photos, so check back often!
Carmina
Photograph taken by Bradley, courtesy of Santa Cruz Indymedia
Welcome to Remembering the Struggle
Mon, 04/14/2008 - 7:06pm — Carmina Eliason"Remembering the Struggle" is a community art remembrance project that gives the Watsonville community an opportunity to commemorate the 1985-87 struggles of local cannery strikers. The "stubborn one thousand," as they are sometimes referred to because not one of the thousand strikers returned to work during the eighteen month strike, fought not only for benefits and job security, but for social respect and political representation in their own community. We invite the community to explore this website to learn more about the history of the strike and its impact on the community, as well as to find out how to participate in the process.
