 we're over here just for a minute over in the corner I'm over in the corner by the exit sign people told me to tell you where I am hi oh my goodness all these nice faces welcome welcome to the National Performance Network's 35th annual conference I know most of you can't see my face which is fine you'll see a lot of me the whole rest of this week George do you need like a thing to stand on I mean no offense you're good we're gonna see a lot of you this week too all right I'm really excited to introduce George share who is the new executive director here at the Contemporary Arts Center and one of our main hosts for the National Performance Network Conference this week and George is going to say a few words of welcome for us here this evening and then kick off the taco truck performance that's happening and if y'all in the back want to just move a little bit closer to the stage it's going to be a little intimate performance for the taco truck theater so while George is saying hello you can make your way a little bit further this way and George share welcome to New Orleans welcome to the CAC it is such a delight and a pleasure to have you all here my name is George here I've been here since October I am so blessed and privileged to be here and this network is such an incredible I understand the CAC to have had a long-standing history as part of NPN and coming into a new place and a new position it's an opportunity to think about and revere the work that has been done and also to think forward about the work that can be done and that we're responsible and to do and I was looking just for a moment at the at the mission of NPN and thinking how an organization that has been doing what artists have been doing is supporting artists who've been doing great work in cultural equity for many many years but has turned in a way to directly look at that work and to call it out and to make it explicit in the mission and narrative of the way they talk about their work and it has brought me to thinking through this weekend about the work that we do that has been long in support of artists here in New Orleans and work nationally and what it is for us to turn and sort of say explicitly the work that we do in racial and cultural equity and economic equity here in the city so this is just a thought that I am driven by as I begin this and I really appreciate everybody here and I welcome you all please if you notice one of our staff members they have been putting this work together building out this space it is an incredible team I hope you will all take a moment throughout this week to also visit the exhibitions that we have Meg Turners on the second floor and Mickalene Thomas New Orleans Airlift these are all spectacular spectacular work and we're really blessed to have it here and so welcome again Jose Torres Tama is our beginning performance this evening he was a recipient of the National Performance Networks Commissioning Fund and has been presented around the world we're very excited to host Teatro Sin Fronteras and the Taco Truck Theater Teatro Sin Fronteras ha comenzado it has begun I am your conceptual coyote and we have at the collective missing moon of Dandia because do not be afraid amigos y a mi española key make yourself conscious and adjust y de la legua que nos abra el camino que nos abra bien la puerta y de la legua que nos abra el camino you and you you can even go near the chips awesome for better dreams my busy meals they're starting for fun and sueños en una cicatriz coronia you've come from everywhere I've come from somewhere else do not deny your conscience that you were here first we've all come to this land for some dream let's dare to remember you've come from somewhere else why do you seek to destroy me I'm here to work with you you've come from somewhere else I've come from somewhere else venimos de toda parte let's dare to remember we are in sacred lands let's dare to remember the native people whose blood has been spilled in this territory when I call out the names you call them out with me the acapa the chakto the chitimacha the chitimacha the kado the natchez the homa chitimacha chakto homa tunica tribe let's dare to remember against the culture imposes amnesia remembering call them by the name somebody who say somebody Jacqueline Paul the standing for that I don't know what you can understand they're killing children this is to remember all of those who have been slaughtered all of those who have fallen and for you to collectively call out the names you can't even call it a seven-year anniversary because it's the remembrance of the seven-year death and slaughter of Trayvon Martin come on now by George Simmerman who's now suing the family for the trauma he apparently experienced when Terrence Parcher spilling the blood this is happening now because it's hard to be easy for immigrant people