The City of Brownsville will be part of the third annual “Bebeleche Festival” which takes place in Matamoros throughout the month of April to celebrate Children’s Day, which is celebrated in Mexico on April 30.
This year, due to COVID-19, the festival will take place virtually and will be bilingual. Organizers of the event in Matamoros decided to, for the first time, invite The City of Brownsville to participate and make this a binational event that both cities hope continues to take place for upcoming years.
Bebeleche Festival was created to generate a space where boys and girls from all segments of the population in Matamoros had an encounter with different artistic languages based in specialized content that would allow them to exercise their right of free access to culture, a press release reads.
“When [Matamoros] approached us with this idea to do this binational event, it was very exciting,” Felipe Peña, director at the Children’s Museum, said.
“We do a great job in serving our community, and I think we’ve done a great job inspiring children. We do have visitors from the Mexican side at the Children’s Museum and I know other institutions, too. I think that if we could reach that one other child, that maybe could not have had access other than through this, it is going to make a change in their lives.”
Organizations partnering together to make this event possible are: Secretary of Culture of Matamoros, DIF, Consulate of Mexico in Brownsville, U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros, Children’s Museum of Brownsville, Gladys Porter Zoo, Brownsville Public Library, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Society of Astronomy of South Texas, Carlotta K. Petrina Cultural Center and the Mitte Cultural District, among others.
Mayor Trey Mendez said it is important to have these partnerships because Brownsville and Matamoros are like a big city divided by a bridge with so much history and it is necessary that both of them showcase the art and the culture so that more children have access to it.
“Brownsville is rich in history and culture but so is Matamoros,” Mendez said. “I think sometimes people forget that. [Matamoros] was founded before we were. … For young children to have access to art and culture, it’s something that I believe should be accessible all the time.”
To see the schedule of events, visit “Mitte Cultural District” on Facebook.
