Palenke Arts is thrilled to present our upcoming 10th Annual Palenke Arts Festival at Laguna Grande Park (lakeside) on Sunday, June 7th from 11 AM to 5 PM. This FREE family-friendly event will feature our multi-talented student groups, a live art demonstration by Paul Richmond, art activities for all ages, artisan booths, delicious food vendors, and community booths. Our featured performances will include Ruby Ibarra, winner of the 2025 Tiny Desk Concert Contest, Plenazo Tribe, the LA-based Puerto Rican Plena Band that performed alongside Bad Bunny at the 2026 Superbowl Half-time show, the regional Mexican group, Banda Tierra Menguarense, and Calpulli Ocelocihuatl (Mexika dancing)! Bring your family, friends, lawn chairs, and dancing shoes and join us for a multicultural celebration of Seaside!
Ten years ago, a vision took root in Seaside — a belief that music, culture, and artistic expression could bring people together, honor heritage, and create meaningful space for community voices to be heard.
Today, that vision continues to grow through Palenke Arts. On Saturday, June 7, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Laguna Grande Park, the organization will celebrate its 10th Anniversary with the Palenke Arts Festival, a vibrant, free multicultural arts festival welcoming families and community members from across the Monterey Peninsula and Central Coast.
Founded by Executive Director Juan L. Sánchez, Palenke Arts has spent the past decade building a home for artistic expression rooted in Latin American, Afro-Caribbean, and global cultural traditions.
“What began as a dream has become a place where culture lives, where artists gather, and where community finds its voice,” said Sánchez. “This festival is a celebration of everyone who has helped build Palenke Arts over the last ten years — the artists, families, volunteers, students, and supporters who believe that culture matters.”
Organizers expect more than 1,000 attendees at this year’s milestone celebration.
The Palenke Arts Festival will transform Laguna Grande Park into a dynamic cultural gathering place featuring:
Nationally recognized and regional musical performers
Dance and cultural presentations
Student performances and youth arts showcases
Local artists and creative makers
Diverse culinary offerings and food vendors
Interactive community booths and cultural storytelling experiences
Live art activations and family-friendly engagement opportunities
Among this year’s headlining performers is Ruby Ibarra, the acclaimed Filipino American rapper and spoken word artist who was named the 2025 NPR Tiny Desk Contest winner, bringing a powerful fusion of hip-hop, identity, and social storytelling to audiences nationwide.
Also performing is Plenazo Tribe, the Los Angeles-based Puerto Rican musical collective whose members recently appeared alongside global music icon Bad Bunny during the Super Bowl halftime show. Their performance brings the vibrant rhythms of traditional plena music to the Central Coast.
For Palenke Arts, the festival represents far more than a single day of performances. It reflects a decade of commitment to creating access to arts education, cultural programming, and creative expression for diverse communities.
Since its founding, the organization has presented concerts, workshops, youth programs, and cultural events designed to connect generations through music and the arts while uplifting traditions that might otherwise go unseen. “Seaside has always been a place of culture, diversity, and creativity,” Sánchez said. “The Palenke Arts Festival honors that spirit and invites the entire community to celebrate with us.”
“This celebration belongs to the community,” Sánchez said. “Everyone is invited.”
Ruby Ibarra uses rap music and spoken word to singularly embody the fact that Filipino artists are not a monolith — just like the Philippines itself, which has many islands and languages.
That’s not an easy mission, especially when you’re from the San Francisco Bay Area, home of world champion Filipino hip-hop DJs. But Ibarra has effortlessly carved her own space in the culture, and is happy to share her knowledge with other artists via her music and label, Bolo Music Group.
Read more: 14 Pinoy Pop Acts You Should Know: G22, Maki, KAIA, ALAMAT, & More
Ibarra’s debut album, 2017’s Circa91, explores what it meant to grow up as an immigrant from Tacloban in the Philippines in the East Bay in the '90s. Her music and spoken word performances stand out in their originality since she utilizes three languages (English and the Filipino-spoken Tagalog and Waray).
Her latest single, "Bakunawa," signals her willingness to weld different styles together to explore new ground and rooted in mythology about a dragon who swallows the moon. The song beat out nearly 7,500 submissions to NPR’s 2025 "Tiny Desk" contest; Ibrarra captivated judges for her "striking originality, lyrical depth and commanding presence."
Plenazo Tribe: The Rhythm of a New Generation
Plenazo Tribe is a Los Angeles based musical collective dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and expanding Plena, Puerto Rico’s rhythm of resistance, storytelling, and collective joy. Rooted deeply in Afro Puerto Rican tradition and shaped by the global diaspora, Plenazo Tribe reimagines Plena for the present moment, fusing folkloric percussion, voice, movement, and contemporary production into a powerful communal experience.
Founded by Puerto Rican actor, singer, percussionist, producer, and bandleader Gabriel J. Montes (Carolina, Puerto Rico), Plenazo Tribe was born out of necessity, resilience, and a profound love for ancestral sound. Gabriel grew up with Plena in his blood and carried it across borders performing in the streets of Poland with Guamanique, in the plazas of Madrid with Los Pleneros del Exilio, and throughout communities where Plena served as both cultural memory and living language.
When Gabriel relocated to Los Angeles, he discovered a city rich in musical diversity but largely disconnected from the Plena tradition he knew. Rather than waiting for a scene to appear, he began creating one. He performed in public spaces, cultural gatherings, and even during the writers’ and actors’ strikes, where his panderos became a call for unity and collective voice.
Facing the reality of limited Plena musicians in the city, inspiration turned into innovation. Influenced by legendary plenero Tito Matos, Gabriel developed the bipandero a technique and instrument that allows two panderos to be played simultaneously. More than a musical solution, the bipandero became a symbol of Plenazo Tribe’s ethos: adapt, honor tradition, and keep the rhythm alive no matter the odds.
A defining moment came during a visit from Gabriel’s older brother from Texas. Over a simple meal at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Los Angeles, a realization emerged: there was no need for a waiter but there was a need for Plena. The restaurant became a stage. That night sparked what would soon become a tradition. The last Friday of every month turned into a Plenazo, a recurring gathering where music, dance, community, and cultural exchange converged.
From those gatherings, Plenazo Tribe was born.
Today, Plenazo Tribe is a vibrant, multicultural ensemble with members from Puerto Rico, Argentina, Ecuador, Cuba, France, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States. Each member brings their own musical lineage, movement language, and cultural perspective, creating a sound that is both deeply rooted and boldly contemporary. Their Plena pulses with Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Latin American soul, improvisation, call-and-response, dance, and modern musical textures.