Xicanx School Programs
Art-making as Self-expression (Elementary Program)
Please note: This program is fully booked for Fall 2022. To be added to the waitlist, please contact bookings@moa.ubc.ca.
Book your class for a zine-making workshop inspired by MOA’s feature exhibition, Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers/Soñadores + creadores del cambio.

Zines are handmade, self-published works – typically DIY pamphlets – made using diverse media including text, drawing, photography, collaging, and more. Created and shared within various subcultures and communities, they offer a vehicle for their creators to independently express and distribute alternative ideas and knowledge. In this workshop, students will take inspiration from the artworks to make zines that represent their own stories, perspectives, dreams and concerns.
Designed for Grades 3–6, this 90-minute program will explore identity and self-expression through art-making. Students will learn strategies for engaging with artworks and will consider how Xicanx artists visually represent themselves and their communities. After a guided visit of the exhibition, students will create zines that express their own experiences, emotions, and identities.
- Fee: $11.50 per student (taxes + museum admission included)
- Grades: 3–6
- Duration: 90 min
- Dates/Times: 10 am or 12:30 pm, Tuesday–Thursday (dependent on availability)
- Limit of one class (max. 30 students) per workshop
Art-making as Change-making (Secondary Program)
Please note: This program is fully booked for Fall 2022. To be added to the waitlist, please contact bookings@moa.ubc.ca.

Book your class for a zine-making workshop inspired by MOA’s feature exhibition, Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers/Soñadores + creadores del cambio. Zines are handmade, self-published works – typically DIY pamphlets – made using diverse media including text, drawing, photography, collaging, and more. Created and shared within various subcultures and communities, they offer a vehicle for their creators to independently express and distribute alternative ideas and knowledge. In this workshop, students will take inspiration from the artworks to make zines that represent their own stories, perspectives, dreams and concerns.
Designed for Grades 7–12, this two-hour program will focus on how Xicanx artists use their art to advocate for their communities, document their lived experiences and histories, and make visible their unique perspectives and concerns. After visiting Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers, students will take inspiration from these artists and make zines focused on their own visions for a just and equitable future, considering the power of art-making to effect change.
- Fee: $11.50 per student (taxes + museum admission included)
- Grades: 7–12
- Duration: 2 hours
- Dates/Times: 10 am or 12:30 pm, Tuesday–Thursday (dependent on availability)
- Limit of one class (max. 30 students) per workshop
Xicanx Live from MOA: A Guided Online Tour for Teens
Monday October 24, 2022
10:15 – 11:15 am

Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio features over 30 artists of Mexican American heritage – self-identified as Xicanx. Join the Museum of Anthropology at UBC for a guided digital tour with exhibition co-curators Jill Baird (MOA Curator, Education) and Greta de León (Executive Director, The Americas Research Network).
Xicanx artists, working across all mediums, are part of a rich tradition of combining visual art and activism. Some began their work as part of El Movimiento, the Chicano civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s that had its roots in the United States. Others define themselves as Indigenous, drawing upon their origins in Aztlán, the ancestral homeland referenced in Mexican códices and oral histories. The next generation is expanding the idea of Xicanx art while continuing to address the personal, social and political issues of our times.
For tweens and teens. School groups welcome.
In partnership with the Vancouver Public Library.
- Fee: Free
- Grades: Best suited for Grades 6-10
- Duration: 1 hour
- Date/Time: Monday October 24, 2022 | 10:15 – 11:15 am
- Limit: N/A
To register, visit https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/62d0742c7a5c6b3600092270
Day of the Dead at MOA
Visit MOA’s Day of the Dead altar in the Haida House, made by local Mexican artist Paloma Morales, on November 1–3 to learn more about this special holiday.
This festive and colourful two-day holiday is celebrated annually in Mexico between October 31 and November 2. This holiday is believed to reunite the living and the dead through ofrendas (offerings on colourful altars) that are prepared a few days before the holiday. This is when it is believed that the dead return to visit their friends and relatives. The altars are decorated with bright flowers, photos, and the favourite foods of those being honoured. Because of its importance as a defining aspect of Mexican culture it is recognized by UNESCO as a part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2008.
The Day of the Dead altar is open for self-guided visits from November 1–3. On November 2 and 3, Paloma Morales, the artist who created the altar, will be present in the Haida House to discuss her work and share this important cultural holiday with visitors.
- Fee: Free with museum admission
- Grades: Appropriate for all grades
- Dates/Times:
-
- Self-guided visits: November 1– 3, 2022 | 10 am – 2 pm
- Meet the artist Paloma Morales: November 2 + 3, 2022 | 10:30 am – 12 pm
To book a self-guided school visit to see the Day of the Dead altar, please contact bookings@moa.ubc.ca, 604.822.3825.