[music] The word "Cumbiaton" is actually a genre, this beautiful fusion of Cumbia and Reggaeton.

Cumbiaton the Party is a space where we would be playing cumbia all throughout, like a cumbia marathon.

Cumbiaton isn't just the regular party you go to, Cumbiaton is a space where anyone, everyone should feel comfortable to take up space.

[Spanish language] Cumbiaton means our culture, our music, our descendants, our history is valid, and it is worth celebrating.

Cumbiaton means family, it means community, it means just having fun, and being free to be who I am.

Cumbiaton, first and foremost, it means friendship.

I know my community is protecting me, and Cumbiaton means a safe space.

It means protection, it means that you are going to have fun.

[music] Are we on, live now?

Vamanos.

[Spanish language] When the COVID pandemic hit, and when the lockdown was enacted, we had to strategize very fast and try to figure out how to move forward.

There was so much uncertainty, there was so much pain, and there was so much trauma.

Especially with COVID harming all Latinx communities at a disproportionate rate, very quickly, we had to shift, and we had to learn.

We had to find ways to navigate virtual programming, and what that meant was learning different virtual platforms.

[Spanish language] Doing all the live streams just really brought forth the sense of community that we were building even online.

I'd started a series called Oversharing With Norms.

I am interviewing folks who have come to Cumbiaton, different artists, party-goers, community vendors.

It was mostly to stay connected to the Cumbiaton community because we weren't having actual events.

Being able to still provide some type of joy, some type of hope with our music, even for just a few moments, I will never take that lightly.

I do have to say, my favorite memory is, last year, our second-year anniversary when the world-famous Cocoloco and myself, Perreando, in front of all those people-- That was beautiful, that was amazing.

That's a historic moment.

The first Cumbiaton was here in Boyle Heights in 2017, and it was at the First Street Billiards.

A little, small party of anywhere from 35 to 50 people tops.

These 50 folks were mostly our post friends.

I thought, "This is great.

We're going to throw parties, we're going to go to different cities, we're going to have fun."

At the moment, I didn't realize or fully grasp that it was going to be an intergenerational movement, that we were essentially doing the nightlife in a completely different way than it has been done.

[Spanish language] A lot of us do come from immigrant backgrounds.

A lot of us are undocumented, DACAmented, so having a sense of family is truly important for us.

Tonight, we're going to be raising funds for the Black Trans Emergency Protesters' Fund.

We decided to throw this party because a lot of us came from the social justice world.

During this pandemic, we've kept the programming going.

I think one of the first things was being able to utilize our platform to amplify the many injustices and the fight of the Black communities.

We were able to educate a lot of our followers on the origins of Cumbia and the afro roots that come with Cumbia.

Being able to tie that to what was currently happening was really important.

[Spanish language], okay?

[laughs] When we think about what immigrant art is, a lot of the time, again, we go to the pain, we go to the suffering.

For us to show the world that we can have fun, that we can feel joy on the dance floor in a space that, normally, is not really made for us, I think that's very important.

By looking at Paolo's photos, it's like, "Oh my God, that night was fun, and I want to make sure that it gets documented in a very colorful way."

I'm just adding to Paolo's already amazing photographs through my art, through the flyers.

It's so exciting when we put a flyer out and somebody is like, "Oh my God, Julio and Paolo, you put me in the flyer."

If we look back in 20 years, we're going to be like, "You know what?

It wasn't just pain, it wasn't just suffering.

We had some really good times."

Imagining a Cumbiaton post-COVID has been a little bit difficult- -but I want to lean on the hoping.

I'm excited for everybody to really reach our full potential.

Yes, I envision Cumbiaton to be a full-on production house producing events, producing art shows, maybe, having a full-on festival.

I can't wait to go back to the venues and see people dance.

Whether it be somebody's backyard, there's always a space where immigrants and people of color come together and gather to just have fun.

[music] I'm really hopeful and I really want to see all of the Cumbiaton team members grow and excel because they all carry very amazing and individual gifts.

We are all doing these things that are continuing to create this sense of comradery and community, even in unprecedented times.

[music] This program was made possible, in part, by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, LA County Department of Arts and Culture, and the California Arts Council.