Our Work
Mujeres de Maiz addresses the physical and mental health challenges faced by low-income, working-class, queer, and bilingual Latina women by creating culturally rooted wellness spaces, workshops, and arts-integrated wellness programs in greater East Los Angeles. These women experience systemic health inequalities including limited access to culturally relevant healthcare, chronic health conditions, mental health issues, and reproductive health disparities. These challenges are a result of a lack of local bilingual services, discrimination, and the erasure of cultural practices, leading to a healthcare system that often fails to meet their needs.
MdM counters these barriers with programs that prioritize mind, body, and spirit to encourage empowerment and community building. The “4 Directions AlterNative Wellness Clinic” provides Indigenous and culturally specific holistic health services for all ages, walks of life, and orientations. “Cultura Cura (culture cures) Workshops,” equip our participants with Indigenous ancestral knowledge in unison with modern wellness practices. In addition, the multi-media Intercultural Art Festival and arts publication amplify art as a powerful healing tool, and the Mujer Mercado supports local women artists and artisans fostering entrepreneurship and economic sustainability.
MdM programs have made significant progress in improving women's mental and physical health and overcoming systemic health barriers by creating and participating in community and reconnecting with their culture. Our growing number of participants illustrates that MdM’s supportive, inclusive spaces empower women to build resilience, find belonging, and move toward lasting wellness. MdM is committed to continued growth, building significant progress, and making a sustainable impact in our community.
—
The needs of Latina women in East Los Angeles have been long been overlooked by traditional arts and health-serving organizations. This vacuum inspired the founding of MdM’s relevant arts and wellness programming for low-income, working-class, bilingual, women of color. Mujeres de Maiz has been a catalyst and leader in this movement inspiring the work of many other community cultural wellness organizations across the county and country .
MdM fills a vital gap in the wellness ecosystem by providing culturally rooted, arts-based healing spaces. While various organizations offer mental health services or arts programming independently, MdM uniquely integrates cultural traditions, artistic expression, and wellness practices to address the health disparities Latina women face.
MdM stands out from other clinical health services in our community because we serve women, of all ages and orientations. We represent and acknowledge community culture bearers, educators, artists, and Indigenous health practitioners for their long-lived experiences, and utilize this collective knowledge to create an ecosystem focused on women’s health and well-being. MdM is well recognized and respected in cultural and educational fields for this unique vision and working practice.
MdM is a distinguished and trusted leader within the larger landscape proven by its 30-year trajectory including collaborative partnerships working with over 50 community health and arts organizations, schools, and universities.
Our impact has reached a total of 15,000+ program participants and includes an extensive communications network and online community of 135,000 combined followers.
—
Program Overview
Below is a list of some of the key events Mujeres de Maiz has offered since 1997. Many events occur on an annual basis.
Community Workshops
Topics are typically based on current need or requests from community members. Workshop topics have included art making, healthy eating, healing with herbs and plants, self defense and women’s health. Topics are typically based on current need or requests from community members. Workshop topics have included art making, healthy eating, healing with herbs and plants, self defense and women’s health. We have organized two series comprised of three to six weekly workshops–one on organic urban gardening and the other on creative writing. All workshops are led by local experts who volunteer their time and are geared towards a novice or beginning audience.
Monthly Full Moon Circle (Coyolxauhqui Circle)
Coyolxauhqui is the moon goddess in Aztec mythology. The monthly full moon circle is a women’s gathering derived from this myth and based on contemporary Indigenous teachings of respect, healing and interconnectedness. “Full Moon” is run mainly as a talking circle and is a space for women to learn, share and gain introductory knowledge to Indigenous teachings. This event has occurred monthly since November 2010. Check our calendar page for our next full moon circle!
Art Education
A multi-generational community arts enrichment program designed for ages 5 to adult taught by professional women educators covering a a variety of mediums.
Poetry Night/ Procession
A poetry event is organized at a venue or as a mobile procession in a neighborhood. The event includes featured well-known adult poets, a featured youth poet and an open mic. Novice and experienced poets alike are able to share their work. The event has also been a springboard for poets who have subsequently performed at events and festivals nationwide. Some poets have published in the MdM zine and others have published books of poetry. This event has become a staple in Mujeres de Maiz programming.
Live Art Show
An intercultural, intergenerational, multimedia art and activist event that is part concert, part performance and part ceremony that features women of color and queer musicians, dancers, visual artists, poets, actors and artisans. The show is held in honor of International Women's Day, Women's Herstory Month, spring equinox and Mexica new year.
Exhibitions
An annual multi-genre art exhibit featuring women of color artists. The venue, typically a gallery or community center, varies each year. A call for submissions is distributed with a theme focused on women’s issues. Past themes include: “Seeds of Resistance,” “Ofrendas (Offerings) of the Flesh,” “Madre, Mother,” “Soldadera de Amor (Soldier of Love)” “Rites of Passage,” and “Identity Blinging.” The opening reception typically includes a performance, artist talk and/or curator presentation.
High School Assemblies
Educational and empowering school assemblies feature women artists and activists (artivists) who make creative presentations. Through music, performance, poetry or film, each presenter discusses topics ranging from self-esteem, educational opportunities, sexism, healthy relationships to racism. Presenters teach students about Women’s Herstory Month and International Women’s Day. The students witness women of color sharing empowering messages of hope, love and power.
Mujer Mercado (Women's Marketplace)
A community marketplace featuring local women of color artisans, visual artists, jewelers and holistic health practitioners.
Annual Zine Publication
We have the longest running self-identified women of color zine in the nation. Our annual literary and arts “zine” (short for fanzine or magazine) is published in conjunction with the Live Art Show. Zines are a non-commercial form of independent media that circulate information and communicate stories that are often devalued in popular culture, public discourse and mainstream politics. The Mujeres de Maiz zines feature the original poetry, prose and the visual art of self-identified women of color. It is a platform for writers and artists of all abilities, from novice to professional from local to global.
Women's Conference
A day-long conference in honor of Women’s Herstory Month. The conference features health and wellness workshops based in Mexicana/Chicana/immigrant knowledges, empowering and educational speakers, artist-activist performances, and an all women artisan marketplace. Conference workshops topics include: healthy relationships and teen dating 101; moontime (menstrual cycles); la cultura cura (culture cures) artivism (art and activism); body image and the media; safety, self awareness and self defense; creative writing; and herbs for wellness. A free healthy vegetarian breakfast and lunch are offered. Conference participants evaluate their experience and the data is used to organize the next conference.