Manitos

In the fall of 2020, Questa Creative Council board members invited Costilla native son and accomplished musician, Chris Arellano to create and lead a project exploring musical traditions in Northern NM and Southern CO. The project was spurred on by community members’ desire for more cultural sharing, honoring, celebrating, preserving and perpetuating of beloved local religious and secular music traditions. The project began with this question: How has musical expression in its many forms shaped the culture and people of…

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Overview: We of Questa Stories, (Gaea McGahee and Claire Coté with four-month old Olivia June in tow) met with Kate Cisneros in her home around her kitchen table on June 14, 2018. This was our third individual interview and we were prepared to record for about an hour. It was also part of our first “concrete” efforts to create content for the Questa Stories project and archive, and to launch QuestaStories.org. To better prepare ourselves as stewards of the newly formed Questa…

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Event overview: The general public and community members, from La Lama to Amalia and beyond, were invited to a community workshop: Gathering Memory: Object, Photos, and Story, on Sunday, July 8, 2018, at the Questa VFW Hall. The event was organized and hosted through a partnership between Questa History Trail (a project of Questa Creative Council) and Questa Stories (a program of LEAP and Localogy). The workshop was announced, and the public was invited, by mail, through online platforms, radio and newspaper. On the afternoon of the event, the VFW…

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July 27, 2019: It was a beautiful day, low wind and perfect temperature. Questa Library volunteers gathered early to set up for Questa Library Community Day, an annual event, which included a fundraiser book sale, community trunk sale, booths and lunch.  Questa Stories was among the community organizations present. Questa Stories co-creator, Claire Coté and volunteer, Judy Rutledge staffed the table. The focus was the newly acquired StoryBox provided to Questa Stories and Questa Library, through the Manitos Community Memory…

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Event description: Questa Stories hosted a “Women’s Tea: a story sharing afternoon” on Saturday, Nov 16, 2019, at La Sala in Questa, NM. We collaborated with Esther Garcia* as our event co-host, an active community member and former Mayor of Questa. During her tenure as Mayor she had hosted a women’s gathering and was struck by the outpouring; women embraced the opportunity to come together in celebration. This event stayed with her and inspired her suggestion of a Women’s Tea. Together…

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