Luis Lara Malvacías created 3RD CLASS CITIZEN in 2003. Formed initially with a focus on dance, visual arts and New Media, this collective was comprised of artists from a wide range of the growing Latino populations living and working in New York. Its collective nature also encouraged the interaction of artists, musicians, designers and choreographers from different cultural backgrounds. The project is constantly evolving and changing. The Not Festival is a result of this venture.

The Not Festival is a kaleidoscopic, ephemeral, erratic and nomadic artistic object. It embraces the ideas of global artistic collaboration and

the cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, DIY( Do It Yourself) attitudes. Through the use of old and new artistic approaches, technologies and

media it exists outside the realm of the establishment, which implies generally non-existing financial support. However, its inclusive nature

allows it to move inside and outside of institutions and at the same time avoid the institutional restrictions. This political “object” aims to fight

the standardized and systematized commodification of the arts. Thus, it is NOT a FESTIVAL.

In every edition of the Not Festival a conceptual framework is offered to the participants and it is embedded in the title chosen for each

occasion. However, it is open to the artists’ own interpretations. Participants are not restricted to having to use it, but can get in and out of it;

re-frame it; re-conceptualize it; and fully remove themselves from it to allow meaning to be created in tandem with their own creative

process.

The purpose of the project is threefold.  First, it is a continuation of Luis Lara Malvacías’s interest in creating multidisciplinary and

collaborative and events that invite cross-cultural exploration for both participants and audience.  Second, it is a powerful stimulus to the

participating artists that offers them the opportunity to share their ideas and to discuss topics that are relevant to contemporary art and

dance today.  Finally, the event fosters the formation of a network of artists who can create similar projects in the future in other parts of the world.