This chapter addresses the involvement of participants in the curatorial process as it plays out—often in contestation among participants, program staff, and partner entities—in Festival–framed time and space. Drawing from programs involving Latino, Latin American, American Indian, and Caribbean communities, it explores different strategies and degrees of curatorial collaborations with the featured cultural groups and the effectiveness of the “re-ordering of power relationships,” if only during the Festival. The author reflects on the complexities that challenge collaboration in cultural production and argues for a shift from a strictly
performance framework to a more discursive practice that seeks to engage the featured communities and participants as central players in curatorial decision making.