PRODUCER

Latino Entertainment Partners – Co-founded Latino Entertainment Partners (L.E.P.) with cultural activist Arturo Riera in 1996. Together with their families and volunteers, they produced over 50 concerts with Cuban legends such as Orchestra Aragon, Los Muńequitos de Matanzas, Los Papines, Tata Guines, Changuito, Los Van Van, N.G. La Banda, Crisol with Roy Hargrove and Chucho Valdes, Jesus Alemany and Cubanismo, Orlando Maraca Valle y su Otra Vision, Vocal Sampling, Jane Bunnet and the Spirits of Havana, Pancho Quinto, Sierra Maestra and Bamboleo. They also produced events with Latin music legends such as Eddie Palmieri, Giovanni Hidalgo, John Santos, the Machete Ensemble, Ralph Irizarry and Timbalaye, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and a Tribute to Cal Tjader with alumni Poncho Sanchez, Claire Fischer. While L.E.P. is no longer in existence, the “Partners,” Riera and Martinez, continue to collaborate on cultural projects with art groups such as Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and La Peńa Cultural Center. In 2003, they launched the first San Francisco Latin Jazz Festival at Yerba Buena Gardens.