The free Selena-themed outdoor concert in support of immigration rights is going bi-coastal. After the success of their summer show headlined by Colombian-American star Kali Uchis in New York, the event is coming to Los Angeles. The organizer, artist manager, and activist, Doris Muñoz of Mija Management, is bringing the event to the West Coast just in time for LA’s Day of the Dead celebrations on Nov.1. 

Solidarity For Sanctuary is a non-profit aimed to amplify the voices of immigrant communities through music, advocacy, and the arts.

Since 2017, Muñoz has been producing Selena for Sanctuary, a concert to help undocumented immigrants. Her mission remains to donate all proceeds from her concerts to undocumented people who need funds for legal fees, to submit DACA applications, etc. This year the entire proceeds of the show went to Make The Road NY. The organization’s mission is to provide “legal and survival services,” develop “transformative education,” and help with “community organizing.” 

“When our parents can barely afford to take a day off of work to go to the lawyer’s office, how are they even going to pay that lawyer,” Muñoz told Remezcla. “I think in the Donald Trump era, we’re sometimes afraid of who we’re talking to and having a brown body, you can feel like a target,” Muñoz added. “To be in a safe space like this, surrounded by people who believe in fighting for your community with you, is really beautiful.” 

Sanctuary for Selena is set to take place on Los Angeles’ iconic Grand Park. 

The concert will be taking place on the first of November, just in time for Downtown L.A.’s Día de los Muertos celebrations. Angelenos will celebrate the ancient party of the dead with a week of altars, remembrance, and traditions that will be wrapped up on the last day, with free music performances by an all Latina lineup.

Organizers of the event took to Instagram to announce the LA-based Selena for Sanctuary.

The non-profit Solidarity for Sanctuary announced the West Coast concert and lineup on an Instagram post. “We can’t wait to see our friends, family, and community gathered at @grandpark_la for this year’s Grand Park’s Downtown Dia de los Muertos!” read the colorful post featuring an illustration of Selena wearing her iconic high rise pants and bedazzled bustier, surrounded by cempasúchil, the flower of the dead. “On Friday, November 1st Selena for Sanctuary will be taking over in front of City Hall for a free concert featuring an all-female line-up of L.A.-based Latinx artists and SO much more, welcoming immigrants and allies together in celebration and solidarity. It’s an honor to be at Grand Park, a place that along with @musiccenterla has made it their mission to provide a packed calendar of thoughtful and exciting cultural events for all Angelinos to enjoy.”

The aim of Selena for Sanctuary is to raise money and awareness for immigrant issues that are impacting millions of lives. 

Born of a series of benefit concerts she put together in Southern California in 2017 called Solidarity for Sanctuary, Muñoz’s dance parties raise funds to help immigrants navigate the bureaucratic minefield that is U.S. immigration policy to set them on the path to citizenship.  In June, the NYC party was headlined by Kali Uchis, the Colombian-American singer with a critically acclaimed debut LP (2018’s Isolation) and collaborations with Gorillaz, Juanes, and Daniel Caesar. The platform must have liked having women at the front of the lineup, so they’ve confirmed an all-female lineup for the event in L.A. which is great news for the Latina artists.

Here’s the line-up of the concert and it is pretty lit.

It is all about the female empowerment with some of the best Latina acts in the music industry. Here’s who will be shining at the Selena for Sanctuary concert.

Empress Of

The Honduran-American Lorely Rodriguez will be headlining in LA’s Selena for Sanctuary. Empress Of shifts from English to Spanish to express the vulnerability that lies in both languages. The East LA native will be heading back home to LA for the show, after a long tour of the US.

Ceci Bastida

This Tijuana native is a ska and punk veteran. Bastida broke into the scene plating keyboard and vocals for the political band Tijuana No.1. These days, Ceci is off on her own. Nowadays, she has a new alt-pop sound with a hint of Tijuana No.1’s political energy. 

 San Cha

San Cha’s sound is a mix of ranchera, cumbia and punk. She is reinventing traditional Mexican sounds and injecting them with her own identity as a queer brown woman. 

Maya Murillo

Better known as Pero Like’s “Pocha Concha,” Murillo is a multi-talented singer and songwriter. She is most comfortable singing covers which she has shared on YouTube in the past. No wonder Selena for Sanctuary tapped her to sing a Selena song at the event. 

Loyal Lobos

For Andrea Silva, the woman behind Loyal Lobos, this event’s mission is very close to her heart. Born in Colombia, Silva immigrated to the US as a child. She often references her experiences as an immigrant and as a feminist in her music. 

August Eve

August Eve had already collaborated with another Selena for Sanctuary headliner, Empress Of. The LA native is taking the stage herself this time with her Old Hollywood-style music.

READ: ‘Selena For Sanctuary’ Is The Free Concert In NYC All About Helping The Immigrant Community

Even after her death, Selena Quintanilla’s music has lived on. The iconic Tex-Mex superstar left a legacy that is still very much alive. Her music is still being played on the radio and streamed online, her face is sold on T-shirts and other merch around the world, her story continues to inspire new TV and Movie projects. And yet, for some reason, the Quintanilla’s Fiesta de la Flor Festival —an annual music event in honor of Selena— isn’t being held at Selena’s hometown Corpus Christi, or at all.

The Quintanilla family announced that the yearly festival honoring Selena’s legacy will no longer be held in Corpus Christi.

credit Instagram @fiestaflorcc

Corpus Christi is synonymous with Selena Quintanilla. The coastal Texas city is where the singer lived and died, it’s also where her family continues to live to this day. In Corpus Christi, Selena fans can visit a museum dedicated entirely to the Queen of Tex-Mex. And for the past five years, the city had also been host to the family held festival, ‘Fiesta de la Flor’. The Quintanillas announced recently, however, that the festival will no longer take place in Corpus Christi. No word yet on where the festival might move to yet.

The news came in a media release from Q Productions.

Credit Instagram @abquintanilla

“Unfortunately, even beautiful journeys must come to an end. In Selena’s beautiful spirit, the Selena Foundation has contributed thousands of dollars to organizations in Corpus Christi for the betterment of the community. The Selena Foundation is committed to continuing Selena’s belief that the impossible is possible.” Much of the rest of the statement was dedicated to thanking a long list of organizations, including the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau, for their support in the last five years.

No word yet on where the festival may land, if anywhere.

credit Instagram @fiestaflorcc

No further information was disclosed about where the festival might be taking place. Or whether it will happen at all. Why did they pull the plug from the Corpus Christi? Back in August, it was reported that the family had threatened to stop celebrating the festival in Corpus Christi because of money issues. It was speculated that the amount of money the city was generating from the festival was disproportionately larger than what the Selena Foundation was receiving. 

According to Corpus Christi Caller Times, this year, for the first time since the inception of the festival in 2015, Fiesta de la Flor did not bring in a profit. The festival generates an estimated “$10.8 million economic impact for the city every year,” yet the Selena Foundation has made less than $100,000 in the four years of the festival.

Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO quit after being criticized for giving the Quintanillas a larger sum of money than what been agreed before.

credit Twitter @Kris6news

The Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Paulette Kluge said that the amount was unacceptable. She said that “the city is making millions of dollars.” Because the bureau is now taking $50,000 from the festival to the foundation, that concludes the festival has no profit to report for this year. “Everybody is benefiting except the Selena Foundation, and they said, ‘It is unacceptable, and if we don’t get something for the Selena Foundation, there will not be another Fiesta de la Flor,’ ” Kluge said, according to the Caller Times. “So I agreed to pay them $35,000 last year, which was all of our profits, and $50,000 moving forward.”

Paulette Kluge recently resigned to her post at the bureau after being criticized for changing the contract with the Quintanillas —raising the family’s profits for the upcoming festival by $15,000—  without input from other officials. Kluge had the legal power to rewrite a contract that she was instrumental in creating. But the CVB Board and City Council were not happy with the new terms. Kluge is credited with building a relationship with the Quintanillas which would later lead to the birth of Fiesta de La Flor.

The two-day festival celebrating the queen of Tejano, had been held in Selena’s hometown for 5 years.

credit Instagram @fiestaflorcc

The festival began in 2015 and has brought about $15 million in economic benefit to the city each year. Formerly sponsored by Citgo, the next festival had a new benefactor lined up. Hermann and Hermann, a law firm based out of Corpus Christi with offices in San Antonio and McAllen, signed on to be the 2020 sponsor.

Corpus Christi Caller Times reported that when reached for information, the Quintanilla family and Q Productions declined to comment. Which leaves us with many unresolved questions. There is no website for the foundation. A quick Google search showed a 2016 article in which it says that the foundation was formed to honor Selena’s legacy as well as give scholarships. However, the foundation has faced some tax issues in the past and is not considered a nonprofit.

And even though we don’t know for certain, why the family pulled the festival from Corpus Christi or when we’ll get to celebrate the Latina icon again, we will be looking forward to finding out where Fiesta de La Flor is going to next.