Who we are  

Mosaico21.com is a bilingual online publication produced by Latin American professionals and artists residing in Toronto , Canada .

Our staff includes Canadian and foreign-trained journalists, graphic designers, accountants, salespeople, architects, computer programmers, painters, musicians, professors and a wide array of other professionals and students who have a passion for Latin art.

The mission of the website is to serve as a medium for the interchange of culture and art that is not only accessible, but engaging as well.
Our objectives are:
1- to showcase Latin American art and artists
2- to explore and celebrate the heterogeneity of Latin American art
3- to create a public for Latin American art and culture.

Our desire at Mosaico 21 is to showcase Latin American culture, art and artists, and to inform readers from across the Americas about the creations of the musicians, writers, actors, dancers, designers, filmmakers and visual artists that make Latin American culture so vibrant. Though our emphasis is on Latin American artists residing in Canada , we also showcase the work of artists from across the Hemisphere who are succeeding artistically and creatively.

To achieve this goal, Mosaico has six distinct sections covering the world of art (Design, Film & Video, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Written Word), as well as an Events section, which concentrates mostly on local Latin events.

In terms of our editorial philosophy, Mosaico's goal is to strike a balance between the purity of artistic creativity and the need to showcase local Latin art.

Though this is no easy task, Mosaico's philosophy is to approach this objective with editorial professionalism, without allowing economic interests to stand in the way of editorial honesty. To put it bluntly, Mosaico does not endorse artists or performances for economic reasons, but, rather, for the merits of the artists or performers that are included in its pages.

Through a combination of features, interviews, event listings and reviews, Mosaico's goal is to inform its readers, whether they are Latin Americans living in Canada or in their native countries, or part of the North American public, about the people and events that are shaping Latin culture throughout the Hemisphere. Furthermore, Mosaico does this with the objective of appealing to its readers not only at an editorial level, but also in terms of aesthetics, through innovative design and artwork, as well as through a multitude of virtual galleries.

Thus, with this mix of professionalism, bilingual format, aesthetic appeal and original editorial content, Mosaico 21's goal is to inform and entertain its readers, while showcasing the wide variety of artists and performers who make up the world of Latin American art.

(If you want to find out who makes up the staff of Mosaico 21 click on Staff).

Why Mosaico?

The Mosaico part of our name comes as a direct result of our heritage as Canadian residents. Unlike the better known American melting pot, Canada's official approach to immigrant cultural assimilation is one of acceptance, which makes up a whole (Canada, in this case), with many different parts to it.

Though the intricacies of this “acceptance” are a common topic of debate among the many groups that make up this country, and will be regularly challenged by Mosaico 21 itself, we believe this philosophy to be both noble and something which Latin Americans, with our unique cultural, regional and ethnic heritages and our common history and experiences, can relate to.

Why 21?

Though the number 21 in our name is not a purely mathematical extension of our editorial philosophy (we chose it because Mosaico 20 just didn't sound as good), there is indeed a meaning behind those two digits.

There are 19 Latin American countries in the Western Hemisphere (18 Spanish speaking nations, plus Brazil (though Haiti may also be included in this number, as its main language, French, has Latin roots). If you add the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), plus the country (Canada) or the culture (North American) that we have adopted, you get Mosaico 21, a collage of 21 different parts that make up a whole: a magazine that expresses the creativity and will to express of a diverse community living in North America.

(In all honesty, the reason why we came up with the 21 in our name varies, depending on what staff member explains it. Other versions also may include: 18 Spanish speaking countries in the Americas , plus Spain and Equatorial Guinea (the other two Spanish Speaking countries in the world) and Canada (or North America), 19 Latin American countries plus Spain and Portugal .