Contributors

Trucha is an independent multimedia platform dedicated to the people, the culture and social movements of the Rio Grande Valley, centering queer and migrant communities of color. We create and curate audio, video, writing, multimedia projects and community events to craft a more nuanced and holistic narrative about the Rio Grande Valley. Our mission is to inform our viewers, inspire our community, and build a collective infrastructure to proudly share our stories. Our vision is to develop and sustain a platform to showcase the authentic stories and the creativity of our community, where we cultivate a grassroots narrative of the frontera.

Trucha previously existed as NetaRGV, which introduced a fresh voice to the independent media of the RGV in 2017. As a collective of local organizers, artists, and activists, Neta reframed anti-immigrant narratives that targeted US-Mexico border communities. NetaRGV created news coverage, interviews, documentary videos, creative projects and new media. Our documentation on immigration and border issues garnered local support and national attention. Life and culture topics focusing on history, the arts and LGBTQIA+ issues were prioritized too. NetaRGV reduced programming slightly before the midst of the COVID 19 Pandemic. We took 2020 to restructure the collective’s focus and the connection to our community.

In February 2021 Trucha was launched with a new mission, strategy and branding. We produce multimedia narratives through movement journalism and cultural programming. Our work revolves around three pillars; 1) create work that informs, documents and highlights the progressive and cultural movements that make people proud to be from the border, 2) invest in local creatives to write and make culturally relevant work, and 3) nurture changes to the narrative building infrastructure of the region. We cater to a bilingual community and our largest audience are Millennial and Gen Z women.

Since then, we have published over 112 articles ranging from Opinion editorials, longform articles, and interviews. The majority of the work published comes from our open pitch process by community members with the editorial assistance of our staff.

We have completed over 45 documentary style videos or interviews in addition to our cultural and creative programming. Our work includes coverage on local reproductive justice after Texas mandated abortion bans, Critical Race Theory, SpaceX Encroachment, and immigration to name a few.

Our cultural programming has featured the De la Casa At Home Residency, the Rio Grande Ceramic Residency, solo exhibitions like Aqui Descansaba by Jessie Burciaga at the San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum and Glimmer, by Milo Elliot at Carla Hughes Studio.

Additionally, group exhibitions like Gestos Locales and the Miraaa Media Festival supported frontera and Rio Grande Valley. Additionally several creative actions and activist campaigns were created including 2022’s Protect Trans Youth Campaign and most recently the Roots Breaks Walls campaign. This is in addition to the new media and creative editorial work that we collaborate with local artists on.

We are no strangers to change, adaptation and growth. Despite global obstacles beyond our control, we have grown immensely at Trucha including becoming our own 501 C3 Organization from a fiscally sponsored project. We went from a volunteer basis to a staff of four full time employees, three part time workers, in addition to a network of contractors and freelancers. We look forward to many years creating and crafting our own narratives of the Frontera.