Latin funk, local bands and activism will take to Estero Park this evening to break down barriers and bring people together.

A Unity in the Community Concert will be held today from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Isla Vista Teen Center, located on the corner of Camino del Sur and Estero Road. The free concert, which aims to unite I.V. students, local residents and families, will feature Latin funk band Aqua Dulce and two local bands, Marisol y Felipe and The Messengers, according to Associated Students Increase the Peace member Rachelle Seliga.

"The concert will be headlined by Aqua Dulce, a Latin funk band from San Diego that sings in both Spanish and English, and will also feature the bands Marisol y Felipe and The Messengers," she said. "The Messengers is a roots, reggae and kind of folksy band who sings a lot of Peter Tosh and Bob Marley as well as their own songs. Marisol y Felipe, on the other hand, sing traditional Mexican folk music featuring the female singer Marisol, who used to live in Isla Vista."

The show evolved from an assignment promoting activism that brought students in a Chicano studies class to the Teen Center, Seliga said.

"The concert was the result of a project for Chicano Studies 177, which required groups of students to get out in the community and get active," she said. "What began as a teach-in with local youth at the Teen Center focusing on indigenous people’s rights, such as the Chumash, transformed into this event."

The concert is sponsored by UCSB and I.V. groups and will include youth-oriented activities, I.V. Community Development Peer Brain Helmle said.

"The community concert will be free of charge and will have multiple campus and community groups tabling intended to educate the community on local issues such as housing, safety, the environment," he said. "The sponsors include the I.V. Community Development Peers, a group funded by the Office of Student Life, Increase the Peace and the I.V. Teen Center."

– Shaun P. McGrady