We’re excited to announce Bilingual Dinosaurs, a cultural storytelling project supported by the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division through a Nexus Grant.
Set against the ancient terrain of Big Bend—and reflecting today’s shifting world—this project reimagines dinosaurs not only as creatures of the past, but as bilingual storytellers who speak across generations. Through augmented reality, staged play readings, and community voices, we’re blending humor, memory, migration, environmental change, and identity into a living, bilingual performance.
🎭 A New Carpa for Today
Like the historic Carpa Theater—popular bilingual tent shows that educated and entertained Mexican American communities—Bilingual Dinosaurs uses play, satire, and imagination to reflect on serious issues with joy and wit. Our dinosaurs speak in Spanish, English, Spanglish, and Indigenous languages, carrying forward this cultural lineage in a new form.
👩🏫 Who We’re Inviting
We’re gathering voices from across the community—artists, professors, elders, cultural leaders, scientists, kids, and everyday Austinites. Middle school students will join too, helping us imagine the world through a child’s eyes: If you were a dinosaur 70 million years ago, what would you say about migration, survival, or friendship?
🦖 How You Can Participate
We’d love your response to a few creative prompts. Some will be thoughtful, some will be playful:
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What would a bilingual dinosaur sound like?
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If you were a dinosaur, what color would you be?
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How would you describe migration, climate change, or volcanoes erupting / other major changes —as a bilingual dinosaur?
Your reflections may inspire dialogue, shape our AR voice scripts, or even appear in a community staged play reading before being brought to life in immersive 3D.
🌎 Why This Matters
This project isn’t just about dinosaurs—it’s about how communities survive, adapt, and carry stories forward. It’s about how language, humor, and identity help us navigate both the past and present.
If you’d like to participate, reply to this message or sign up through our upcoming link. We’ll follow up with a short set of questions and an option to share your voice in audio or text.
Your insight, laughter, and imagination will help bring these ancient, bilingual storytellers to life.
storytellers to life.