Milat

Juan C. P Rz
May 18, 2023
4 min read

Milat is a non-profit organization whose primary goal is to integrate Latinos and migrants in Austria and to spread Latin culture throughout the country. We provide social activities to improve people's lives and support their integration into Austrian society. We focused on providing community-beneficial services such as German teaching, legal advice, psychological advice, and general companionship. Furthermore, we provide safe spaces for the migrant community to speak in their native language, participate in various integration activities, showcase their traditions, meet new people, and build a strong community. We also host intercultural exchange events between the migrant community and Austrian culture.

"Organizing the Latin music concert was a turning point. Seeing people from Latin America and Austrians coming together, enjoying the music and wanting more, fueled our motivation to expand our art projects and build a stronger community."

Encanto Latino is an initiative that seeks to integrate art in various ways, both in the organization of the festival and in the event's programming itself.

Firstly, Encanto Latino presents a showcase of Latin American dance, a concert of Latin American music, and an exhibition of visual artists, which provides an opportunity to enjoy the arts in different disciplines and styles.

In addition, during the festival, an art intervention with artists and the community will take place, where a large joint art piece will be created, allowing active participation of the public in the artistic creation.

Moreover, Encanto Latino aims to promote the work of Latin American artists, such as painters, musicians, dancers, and visual artists, thus establishing a platform to promote Latin American art in Austria.

In summary, art is a fundamental part of Encanto Latino, and it is integrated into the initiative in various ways to provide a complete and enriching experience at the festival.

Fostering Integration and Cultural Exchange: The Story of Milat in Austria

Can you tell me about your organization's founding and its focus?

Our organization was founded in Vienna, Austria in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. We initially started with German courses and our main goal was to help migrants adapt to daily life in Austria and learn about the culture. We focused on Latin migrants at first, but now we're opening our organization to migrants from other countries.

Does your organization implement creative work in your projects?

While we started by focusing on German courses, we eventually began implementing creative projects as well. One of the most important ones for us is offering our students or migrants the opportunity to showcase their own culture through music and dance, such as Latin music and playing instruments. Our goal is to provide a safe space for them to show their culture to the European culture. These kinds of projects are important for us because they not only allow us to offer a space for our migrants to showcase their culture, but also for European cultures to learn more about other cultures, such as Latins or Turkish.

So, if I understand correctly, the people you work with already have some kind of skill set and are presenting it already, such as knowing songs or dances, for example?

Yes and no. In some of our projects, we encourage those who know how to sing, dance, or play instruments to share their skills with others. However, we also design projects where we teach not only Latin immigrants but also Europeans who are interested in learning more about Latin American music. So we try to implement both kinds of projects.

Did the social work aspect come first or did the creativity aspect come first?

The social projects came first. Our initial focus was to offer German courses at an affordable price, and we taught them in Spanish to help our students understand the grammar and structure of the language better. But then we started to realize that creating projects or spaces where we could offer different activities besides German courses was also important. Latin music concerts and dances were particularly important for our students because they provided a new way to have intercultural experiences. So, we began implementing creative projects more and more, and now we have both social and creative projects.

"We started with German courses, but incorporating creative projects allowed us to provide a safe space for migrants to showcase their culture, fostering intercultural experiences and learning between Europeans and Latin Americans."

Do you remember the first project you were involved in with the organization, or if not, could you describe a successful project you were part of?

I remember a successful one where we organized a Latin music concert. We invited some musicians we knew from Austria who could play instruments and sing. We held the concert in the organization's office, and it was very popular. People from Latin America who were missing their home music came, as did many Austrians who were interested in learning more. We received a lot of positive feedback and requests for more projects like this. So we started teaching classes on how to play instruments and created more art projects to bring the community together. This project was more successful than even our German language courses.

Were there any unexpected outcomes from your projects that inspired you or gave you new ideas?

At first, we only focused on activities for migrants to share their culture with others from Latin America. But we noticed that our projects were also popular with Austrians who wanted to learn more about Latin culture. We found that our projects were a good way to provide an adaptation space for people to share and learn about each other's cultures. We realized we needed to broaden our reach, so we started creating content in English in addition to Spanish and adapted our website and social media accordingly.

Do you think there could be any problematic aspects to the connection between artistic and social sectors, such as artists using social projects for fame or social organizations using creative labor without paying for it?

it's a tricky question. We try to pay our musicians and artists, but sometimes as an organization, we don't have enough funds to do so. It can be difficult to find the balance between showcasing our artistic side and paying for it. It's especially hard in Vienna, where there is a lot of artistic talent, but it can be difficult to pay them fairly. From my personal perspective, it's frustrating to see that artistic professions are not valued in Colombia, where I'm from. It takes a lot of work to become a musician or creative person, but they are not appreciated in the same way as other professions.