Monday, February 22, 2021
  Community

By Amanda Taylor

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – UTRGV’s annual Festival of International Books & Arts (FESTIBA), an educational and entertaining event that promotes literacy and appreciation of reading for all ages, started on Feb. 20 and will run through March 13 this year.

The theme is “Building Resilience Through Arts and Literacy.”

“This has been an unusual year, to say the least, and we are experiencing a Spring of 2021 that continues in like fashion. But FESTIBA 2021 must go on, so we have been planning for a virtual festival,” said Dahlia Guerra, UTRGV assistant vice president of Public Art.

With the transformative power of the arts and their ability to foster resilience, FESTIBA 2021 will examine and highlight the use of the creative process to find comfort during times of struggle and promote a sense of emotional and psychological well-being.

“The literary and performing arts have seen the world through many times of crisis,” Guerra said. “As we adjust to new realities during the ongoing pandemic, FESTIBA 2021, in general, will focus on the theme ‘Building Resilience Through Arts and Literacy.’”

Focusing on the creative process, Guerra said the events in this year’s FESTIBA will center around how powerful the arts are and how important they are, even in the most stressful of times.

“With the transformative power of the arts and their ability to foster resilience, FESTIBA 2021 will examine and highlight the use of the creative process to find comfort during times of struggle and promote a sense of emotional and psychological well-being.,” she said. “Many of the events and presentations during the week will explore creative opportunities for the students in our community to cope with the recent educational and emotional challenges of the pandemic.”

Some of the highlights this year include a virtual mariachi training workshop on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, a book distribution event of more than 8,000 books at the Bert Ogden Arena on March 5, and the South Texas Literacy virtual symposium on March 13.

“Our FESTIBA 2021 will be unique this year and we are striving to make it memorable and impactful for our community,” Guerra said. “For this reason, we are bringing you exhibits, musical concerts, guest artists, and community leaders who will inspire our viewers from the comfort of their homes.” 

For a complete schedule of events visit, visit http://www.utrgv.edu/festiba/



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.