The conference is a major player when it comes to influencing the direction of mariachi music and baile folklórico dance. This event is a unique experience that continues to deliver powerful performances year after year.

It has become tradition at this conference to deliver the biggest and most popular mariachi groups and folklórico dancers of our time. Groups include such names as Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan, Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Grupo Folklórico de las Universidad de Colima lead by legendary Rafael Zamarripa, Mariachi Cobre, Mariachi Mujer 2000, and Los Changuitos Feos to name a few.

But these masters of the music are no strangers to Tucson or the city’s stages. Many of the professionals who perform for conference today at one time took part in the conference’s mariachi music and dance workshops. Many even return to volunteer their time and energies to being instructors of these workshops. And in giving back to the tradition of the music, they ensure the future of this facet of Hispanic heritage.

The conference was created for the sake of the children. Each year approximately 900 students come from all over America and parts of Canada and Mexico to learn from the masters of mariachi and baile folklórico dance. In these workshops students of all ages and skill levels learn the art of their chosen instrument and the more intricate steps of the dance. But they learn more. The workshops also teach students life lessons such as individual responsibility, the importance of tradition, humility, pride in oneself, team building, leadership, how to be a contributing member of a group, and how talent is a gift that requires a lot of hard work. The masters instill all this in the students in just a few days and classes culminate with a student’s concert where the little mariachis get to perform on the big stage and show-off what they have learned. Many of the students start the workshops in the beginner classes and as the years go by they come again and again to progress through to the Masters program.

La Frontera Center, Inc. knows these children are the future of mariachi and Hispanic music traditions. The entire community benefits from the young mariachis love of the music and from La Frontera’s assistance in the surrounding area. Each year proceeds from the conference benefit the families and children of La Frontera, Inc. This caring organization reaches out into the community to help where other social programs fall short. With the continued assistance from the conference, La Frontera will continue to make a positive impact on the families and children of Southern Arizona. Sponsors of the Conference will help in that cause and play a part in making this portion of the United States a better place to live and raise a family.