They generally host peñas one Friday a month during the academic year (August-May) at The Collectivo building in Tucson. (The space may change as they are growing so fast, they may need a larger location soon – stay tuned).La Peña del SurCo is inspired by peñas in Argentina and Chile. It celebrates folk and popular music traditions from across Latin America while promoting intergenerational forms of cultural belonging and wellbeing through intimate, acoustic, and participatory performance practices.At each peña, the Argentine/Chilean band El SurCo performs a 30-minute set. Generally, they invite a Latin American folk/popular music group to perform another 30-minute set. The rest of the time is filled with pre-selected guest performances by artists from the community (UofA music students for example).Their request: Share songs that personally connect you to communities that are important to you. In the lineage of the ‘nueva canción movement’, they ask performers to be thoughtful and intentional about their song choices and to use the peña to promote critical thinking about issues and topics that are of social value to the community.They have amazing empanadas for sale at a food-truck, provided by John and Dante of Che Empanadas. I’ve heard many folks say that’s one of the other main reasons they come to the peñas ;-).Entrance is free and they pass a hat around to gather donations to help continue this wonderful event – you choose to donate or not. People of all ages can attend – there is even a small space for children to be children. Much of the music is understandably in Spanish with English translation when needed.A wonderful way to meet this beautiful Tucson community is to attend one of these peñas when you are near downtown Tucson. ENJOY great music and food in a lovely atmosphere.What a great tradition to support!