Spring 2025

April 9, 2025
Center for Politics Ambassador Series 

Distinguished visit by the Mexican Ambassador discussing the US/Mexico relationship, followed by a special Global Spanish Luncheon at the Colonnade Club, providing an exclusive preview of the initiative's vision and programming hosted by Dean Acampora.

April 10, 2025
Global Spanish Symposium

Uniting scholars, diplomats, and community members for an academic presentation of research papers, culminating in an inclusive happy hour reception at UVA's historic Rotunda. This conference-style panel will highlight groundbreaking research, creative work, and community building across the global Hispanophone, with short presentations by faculty members from various departments. Attendees will hear from experts such as Professor of Spanish, Sam Amago; Professor of Art, Federico Cuatlacuatl; Associate Professor Department of Art; his work addresses transborder Nahua futurity via social art practice; Tatiana Flores; Associate Professor of Spanish & Poetry; Erika Hirugami, Academic Curator and Doctoral Candidate, UCLA; Epistemologically braiding the Aesthetics of Undocumentedness; Paulina Ochoa, John L. Nau III Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy; Allison Bigelow, Associate Professor of Spanish, Ricardo Padron (Col ’89), and Jenn Bair, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology. Dean Acampora will provide an introduction.

April 11, 2025
Juntos Latin Alumni Event co-sponsored with UVA Lifetime Learning

Fostering meaningful connections for Latin alumni showcasing research being done in this subject area, through film screening academic profiles and networking opportunities celebrating global Spanish excellence at UVA.

Events: Fall 2025

Aug 29 - Oct 10, 2025 
Global Spanish Art Exhibition

Transforming Ruffin Gallery into a vibrant showcase of contemporary Hispanic art, featuring multimedia installations that bridge cultural traditions with modern expressions. The groundbreaking Fuego Eterno, Soveranias Visuales, exhibition, thoughtfully curated by Erica Hirugami and Federico Cuatlacuatl, brings together the distinctive voices of 15 artists and 10 writers from Spanish-speaking and Indigenous communities across the Americas and Europe. Their compelling works examine the intricate intersections of geography, cultural identity, and ancestral heritage in our contemporary world.

November 2025
 Film “Transborder Nahualismos”

Film production for Global Spanish by Federico Cuatlacuatl. This new 2025, video and multimedia production for UVA Global Spanish is a continuity of his artistic research and production across Mexico and the US. This project will culminate in a short experimental film with an installation, addressing histories in Mexico that have lead to the marginalization of indigenous communities in Cholula while also highlighting the diasporic resilience of these communities in the U.S. This production will amplify a more extensive understanding of these communities’ histories, migratory experiences, and contemporary Nahua diasporic manifestations from Cholula, México. Migrant Nahua futurisms is the conceptual framework for this project highlighting the community’s forced self displacement while envisioning a futurity as a mode of resistance and self-preservation. Allegorically referencing the traditional and ancestral practices of Cholula Nahua

communities will visually inform this project and simultaneously challenging these histories of systemic erasure and constant re-interpretations in the last 500+ years. Will be submitted for consideration for the 2025 Virginia Film Festival.