Vanguardia with James Garcia

Teatro Dignidad premieres a new work, "Los Que Regresan," by Mexico City playwright Hugo Salcedo, on Nov. 5, about an immigrant family forced to self-deport to avoid detention and family separation in the face of the latest mass deportation wave in the United States. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that as many as 1.5 million people, including immigrants and their families, many...

The City of Chandler has appointed Julianna Crespo, a performing arts executive with more than 14 years of experience, as the new general manager of the Chandler Center for the Arts (CCA). Crespo sat with Vanguardia's James Garcia to talk about the center's new season, her career and vision, and new major upgrades to the arts facility, which celebrates its grand reopening on Saturday, Oct....

Our guest is Latin Grammy and Grammy Award winner Lila Downs, the daughter of Mixtec singer Anita Sanchez and Scottish-American art professor and filmmaker. Allen Downs. We've invited her on the show ahead of her concert at the annual ⁠Dia de Los Muertos celebration at the Mesa Arts Center⁠ Oct. 24 and 25. (Downs performs Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. Jazz-fusion violinist Quetzal Guerrero opens for her a...

Israel Alexander is a Phoenix-based actor starring as Edgar Allan Poe in the Southwest Shakespeare production of Whispers in the Dark at the Mesa Arts Center, Oct. 15-25. The show features theatrical dramatizations of some of Poe's greatest works, including The Raven . LA-born Alexander, who is Salvadoran American, talks about his career, his craft, and his love of characters "with purpos...

The Hispanic Research Center and Bilingual Press | Editorial Bilingüe at Arizona State University are marking the sister organizations' 40th anniversaries. Our guests are HRC Director Stella Rouse and Anita Huizar-Hernandez, publisher and managing editor,  Anita Huizar-Hernandez . Rouse and Huizar, who also teach at ASU, discuss the HRC's history and mission, its relaunch, and goals for th...

Formed in the 1960s, Los Changuitos Feos ( The Ugly Little Monkeys ), a youth mariachi group would rise from the Tucson barrios to achieve international acclaim and spark a youth mariachi movement across the U.S. But guided by a charismatic and musically gifted Catholic priest, their road to success was also marked by a dark secret that nearly tore the group apart. Vanguardia talks to the co-direc...

Our guests are actor-playwright Herbert Siguenza and playwright Carlos Morton, the duo behind Diego Rivera: His Story, a new one-man show about the life of the famed Mexican muralist. Morton and Siguenza co-wrote the play, which has toured in Europe and across the U.S. You can catch a free performance Sept. 18 at the Central Library in Whittier, California. The play is set in the aftermath of Frid...

Our panel of activists say federal immigration authorities are running roughshod on the law, but they remain hopeful concerted efforts to push back and expose abuses can turn things around. Our guests are Zaira Garcia of Fwd.us , immigration attorney Emilia Bañuelos , and Vivian Sarafin of Living United for Change in Arizona ( LUCHA ). (20 mins.)

The Nash is enrolling for its Jazz Summer Camp at Arizona School for the Arts, a weeklong immersive jazz program for student musicians that runs from June 14-20, 2026. On our show this week to talk about the summer camp are jazz musicians and camp instructors Corcoran Holt, Clark Gibson and Ashlin Parker. The camp is open to instrumentalists and vocalists 12 and up. It offers intensive, hands-on j...

Our guests are Lydia Guzman of Chicanos Por La Causa and Danny Ortega from the CPLC Action Fund. Host James E. Garcia talks to them about CPLC's Si Se Vota campaign, and the growing importance of Arizona's Latino electorate as we approach the state's July 21 primaries and November's general election. Recent polling shows Latino voters, who are expected to play an increasingly decisive role in elec...

Our guests are Alba Jaramillo and Alida Holguín Wilson-Gunn of Teatro Dignidad. The Tucson-based theater company is presenting  ¡BOCÓN! by Lisa Loomer, a fable filled with mysticism and truth that tells the story of Miguel, a storyteller and irrepressible bocón or big mouth. Miguel loses his voice when his parents are taken by immigration authorities. He decides to embark alone to find his voice o...

"While We Wait" Directed by Anastasia Levkun Devised by the full company When full-scale war broke out in Ukraine in 2022, many Ukrainians entered a new reality. Some fled abroad, others stayed, but as the war dragged on, waiting for life to "return to normal" was no longer possible. While We Wait is a devised performance built from interviews with Ukrainians, weaving together...

Grammy Award winning trumpeter Arturo Sandoval talks to Vanguardia America host James E. Garcia about Sandoval's love of music, artistic freedom in the U.S., and the joys of performing with a full symphony. Sandoval will present his Trumpet Concerto No. 2 with the Phoenix Symphony orchestra on Nov.21-23. For tickets and details, visit the Phoenix Symphony website

At a press conference this week, Phoenix-based Transqueer Pueblo, which advocates for migrants and the LGBTQ+ community, demanded the release of ArbellaRodríguez Márquez from the ICE detention center in Eloy. Yari, as she’s known to family and friends, is a permanent U.S. resident and battlingleukemia. She’s been held in ICE custody for the past nine months. Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari c...

Vanguardia Arizona host James Garcia leads a discussion with four Arizona community leaders to talk about the life and legacy of the iconic civil rights leader Alfredo Gutierrez. Our guests include Raquel Teran of Proyecto Progreso, attorney and civil rights activist Danny Ortega, Lydia Guzman of Chicanos Por La Causa, and John Loredo, a longtime democratic strategist and now executive director of...

Our guest is Dr. Monica Villalobos, president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which recently released its annual DATOS report. The report tracks the impact of Latinos on the economy in Arizona and nationwide. Monica talks to host James E. Garcia about the role social justice plays in our country's economic success. Latinos are now a $4 trillion powerhouse in the U.S. We al...

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has announced her bid for reelection. Host James E. Garcia talks to Mayes about the more than 20 lawsuits — and counting — she’s filed against the Trump administration in the past nine months, and her broader statewide agenda, including countering housing fraud and preventing elder abuse. We also get her take on federal immigration agents wearing masks when cond...

Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari talks to Vanguardia Arizona host James E. Garcia about the deteriorating conditions at U.S. immigration detention facilities , many of which are now over capacity. After being blocked by authorities, Ansari recently visited the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona to met with more than two dozen detainees about the center's overcrowded and substandard conditions. The...

Helios Education Foundation President/CEO Paul J. Luna discusses what he calls the organization's "investments" over the past 20 years aimed at ensuring "all students, including those from low-income, historically underserved communities and those forging nontraditional paths" succeed after high school. Since its founding, Helios has invested more than $350 million in a wide range of innovative ed...

Our guest is Meisei Gonzalez, Climate Justice and Clean Air Advocate for Green Latinos, a national non-profit of Latino leaders confronting environmental issues in the Latino community nationwide. Gonzalez talks with host James E. Garcia about the impact of our nation's worsening air quality on Latinos and other communities of color. To learn more about Green Latinos and its work, visit www.gr...

The 2025 Latino GDP Report finds that the gross domestic product of U.S. Hispanics has surpassed $4.1 trillion, meaning if they were their own country they would constitute the fifth largest economy in the world, larger than that of India, the United Kingdom, or France. Host James E. Garcia speaks to two of the report's authors, Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, Director of the Center for the Study of...

Our guests are onetme presidential candidate and Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro and Vanessa Fuentes, Mayor Pro Tem of Ausin, Texas. Host James E. Garcia spoke to them on June 14 as millions took to the streets nationwide as part of massive No Kings Day marches and rallies against the policies of President Trump, including his decision to send National Guard troops and Marines to help quell pro...

Host James E. Garcia talks with Cristina Jiménez, author of the new book, "Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change." (Jiménez is on a national book tour. ) Published by St. Martin’s Press, the book is about a young woman a coming-of-age story and finding her true self and mission in life amid a social movement of immigrant youth trailblazers who inspired the world and...

Our guest is Emmy Award winning filmmaker Paul Espinosa . Host James E. Garcia spoke to Paul about his extensive career, life on the U.S.-Mexico border, and a recent major screening of his work at the Filmoteca Española in Madrid, Spain. Paul  is an anthropologist who has worked at the intersection of social justice, media culture and Latino history for more than 40 years. Espinosa Productions spe...

Welcome to Vanguardia America. In this episode, host James E. Garcia speaks with Award Winning Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza, the former owner of the iconic Barrio Café in Phoenix, which she operated for more than 20 years.  Chef Esparza came on the show to talk about her new memoir, La Hija de La Chingada, Chronicles from a Mexican Chef in the USA. The book covers her journey not just as a chef bu...