The Centro Cultural de la Raza (Spanish for Cultural Center of the People) is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. It is located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California.The cultural center supports and encourages the creative expression “of the indigenous cultures of the Americas.”[1] It is currently a member of the American Alliance of Museums.[2]
The Centro provides classes and presentations on drama, music, dance, and arts and crafts, many of which have origins in Mexico and "Aztlán," a term used by Chicanos to indicate a return to a spiritual homeland and indigenous traditions and knowledge systems. Programs include Danza Azteca, Teatro Chicano, film screenings, exhibits, musical performances, installation art, readings, receptions and other events. The Centro's resident Ballet Folklorico company, Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan, also operates a dance academy at the Center.[3] In addition, the Centro is available as a meeting place for community groups and organizations.[4]
The Centro's circular building has offices, workrooms, studios, and a theater.[2] The performance space seats 150 people and has a 2,000 square foot art gallery.[3] The Centro is one of the first community-based Chicano cultural centers[5] and one of the largest in the Southwest.[2] It is identifiable by a number of murals painted near the building's main entrance.
History
The origins of the Centro go back to the mid 1960s.[2] Social protests, such as anti-Vietnam war demonstrations and work of activists like Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez leading with the United Farm Workers had given rise to grass-roots community movements in San Diego.[1] Those involved with social protest saw that there would also be a need for a community center that was run by Chicanos and for Chicanos.[1][6] At the San Diego State University, the Mexican American Youth Association (MAYA) was formed to recruit Chicano students to the university and make sure that they were able to complete their studies.[1] This group, along with the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALAF) both recognized the need for a cultural center.[1] In addition, MALAF also noticed that there were few places for Chicanos to exhibit their art.[1]Alurista, a poet, and artists Guillermo Aranda and Salvador Roberto Torres, were all involved with MAYA, later to become M.E.C.H.A. and were very active in working towards both a cultural space as well as a space to create and show art.[1] In 1968, the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department gave Torres permission to use the abandoned Ford Building in Balboa Park as a studio space for 6 months.[1][7]
Torres invited other visual artists and eventually the Ballet Foklorico en Aztlán, a folkloric dance group led by the Enrique family to use the space.[1] Those involved included Alurista, Ochoa and Torres as well as Guillermo Aranda, Ruben de Anda, Leticia de Baca, the Aguilar sisters, Tomas Castañeda, Mario Acevedo Torero, Luis Espinoza, Ricardo Gonzalez and Antonio Rivas.[1] The Ford Building by 1969 was a "major center of activities for San Diego's Chicano artists."[1] Other artists such as Guillermo Rosette and musicians such as the Trio Moreno became involved at this time.[1] They formally named themselves "Los Toltecas en Aztlán" in order to be able to create a more solid group identity.[1]
Los Toltecas en Aztlán wrote this as their founding principle: "The Tolecas en Aztlán shall be constituted of all those Chicano Artists dedicated to Human Truth and Chicano Beauty, which in our belief can only be lived up to through Mutual Self-Respect, Self-Determination in our endeavors, and the Self-Sacrifice of our individual differences for the sake of a Centro Cultural de la Raza where our indigenous ancestral spirit of brotherhood, justice and peace can flourish in contemporary Chicano Art Forms."[1] Los Toltecas en Aztlán had forty members by 1970.[1]
Plans were begun to convert the Ford Building into Centro Cultural de la Raza. First, Los Toltecas en Aztlán petitioned the city of San Diego to use the building to create a cultural center.[1] The proposal for the Centro went before city council, to the current mayor, Frank Curran, and to other Chicano organizations and interested individuals in order to gain support.[1] The city of San Diego, however, had begun making plans to turn the Ford Building into an aerospace museum.[1] According to Ochoa, the city and the "establishment" were uncomfortable with what the Toltecas were doing in Balboa Park.[8] He says, "At one time there was 300 cars outside the Ford Building -- all Mexicans. They never saw so many Mexicans in Balboa Park before."[8]
At the same time that Los Toltecas en Aztlán were petitioning the city to create a cultural center, in another part of San Diego where there had once been a vibrant Hispanic barrio, citizens were occupying the former neighborhood and demanding the city turn the space into a park.[1] Torres and other members of Los Toltecas en Aztlán were involved in this protest, calling the area Chicano Park.[9] The Chicano Park protest and other issues became part of a new proposal, citing a great need to create Centro Cultural de la Raza.[1] The new proposal was brought to the city by Alurista, Torres, and Aranda.[1] Despite this, the city attempted to evict the artists from the Ford Building. Los Toltecas en Aztlán refused to leave.[1] In October, the Chicano Federation of San Diego County became involved and helped Los Toltecas en Aztlán express their concerns to the city manager, Walter Hahn.[1] Los Toltecas en Aztlán refused to leave the Ford Building until another site was given them for the center. Eventually the city offered to give them an abandoned water tank that was originally built in 1914.[1] Alurista was largely responsible for the final negotiations which included use of the new facility and a city contribution of $22,000 to the new building.[1] The monetary contribution from the city included improvements to the building such as installing lights, heaters, water and a wood floor for the Ballet Folklorico.[8]
Los Toltecas en Aztlán moved into the new building in May 1971 and worked hard to get the building ready for a grand inauguration on July 11, 1971.[1] The grand opening ceremonies attracted over 500 people and included music, dance and an art exhibition inside the building.[1]
The first mural "La Dualidad" in the new Centro building was created by Aranda and a team of volunteers and was completed in 1984.[6] Outside of the building are murals by Mario Aguilar, Aranda, Barajas, Arturo Roman, Neto del Sol, David Avalos, Antonio de Hermosillo, Samuel Llamas, Antonio Perez and Ochoa.[6]
The Centro was known internationally as a dynamic cultural center where academics such as Shifra Goldman, Tomas Ybarra Frausto and Chon Noriega could be found conversing with community members as well as artists such as Magu, Luis Valdez, Judy Baca, Sergio Arau, Lalo Guerrero, Jose Montoya, Barbara Carrasco, Gabino Palomares and El Vez. Groups that formed through the work of the Centro include: Ballet Folklórico en Aztlán, founded by Herminia Enrique; Treatro Meztizo and Trio Moreno, a musical group, BAWTAF (The Border Arts Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo). In addition countless artists, musicians, performers, writers, dancers and activists were nurtured at the Centro, including Culture Clash, Gronk, Guillermo Gomez Peña, Lalo Lopez Alcaraz, the Taco Shop Poets, Yareli Arizmendi, James Luna, David Avalos, Dora Areola, Chicano Secret Service, Richard A. Lou, Robert J. Sanchez, and Isaac Artenstein - all of whom have achieved prominence in the arts and culture community.
Boycott
A seven-year boycott (2000–2007) of the center was carried out by many artists, supporters, community members and even one of the founders, Ochoa.[10] The dispute left the Centro in a "tenuous state."[11] Disagreements with changes made by new administrators of the Centro caused the rift.[12]
Today
As a cultural center, the Centro not only promotes creative expression in art and formal art classes, but also includes in its busy schedule a variety of workshops in danza folklórica as well as other interpretive dance forms, music, theater, spoken word, drumming and more. In addition, numerous public presentations including exhibitions, concerts, installations, theater, dance, spoken word and multimedia events take place at the Centro.
The Centro currently operates on a budget of $30,000 a year with no employees and only volunteers working for the organization.[10]
The Plan Espiritual de Aztlán was a pro-indigenist manifesto advocating Chicano nationalism and self-determination for Mexican Americans. It was adopted by the First National Chicano Liberation Youth Conference, a March 1969 convention hosted by Rodolfo Gonzales's Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado.
The Brown Berets is a pro-Chicano paramilitary organization that emerged during the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s. David Sanchez and Carlos Montes co-founded the group modeled after the Black Panther Party. The Brown Berets was part of the Third World Liberation Front. It worked for educational reform, farmworkers' rights, and against police brutality and the Vietnam War. It also sought to separate the American Southwest from the control of the United States government.
The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento, California-based art collective, founded in 1970 by Ricardo Favela, José Montoya and Esteban Villa. It was one of the "most important collective artist groups" in the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and the 1980s and continues to be influential into the 21st century.
Chicano Park is a 32,000 square meter park located beneath the San Diego–Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Chicano or Mexican American and Mexican-migrant community in central San Diego, California. The park is home to the country's largest collection of outdoor murals, as well as various sculptures, earthworks, and an architectural piece dedicated to the cultural heritage of the community. Because of the magnitude and historical significance of the murals, the park was designated an official historic site by the San Diego Historical Site Board in 1980, and its murals were officially recognized as public art by the San Diego Public Advisory Board in 1987. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 owing to its association with the Chicano Movement, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. Chicano Park, like Berkeley's People's Park, was the result of a militant people's land takeover. Every year on April 22, the community celebrates the anniversary of the park's takeover with a celebration called Chicano Park Day.
The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States that worked to embrace a Chicano/a identity and worldview that combated structural racism, encouraged cultural revitalization, and achieved community empowerment by rejecting assimilation. Chicanos also expressed solidarity and defined their culture through the development of Chicano art during El Movimiento, and stood firm in preserving their religion.
Gilbert "Magu" Luján was a Chicano American sculptor, muralist, painter, and educator. He was a founding member of the Chicano collective, Los Four that consisted of artists Carlos Almaraz, Beto de la Rocha, Frank Romero and himself. In 1974, Judithe Hernández became the "fifth member," and only female member of Los Four.
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is an American poet and activist. His work was influential in the Chicano Movement and is important to the field of Chicano poetry.
Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan (BFA) is a Chicano dance company focusing on Mexican folklore, and blending traditional dance with contemporary movements. The group was founded in 1967 by Hermina Enrique. Currently, her daughter, Viviana Enrique Acosta, is the Artistic Director. The members of BFA were instrumental in founding the Centro Cultural de la Raza which was the first home of the BFA.
Rubén Ortiz Torres is a Mexican photographer, painter, sculptor, film and video producer.
The Ford Building, a Streamline Moderne structure in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, serves as the home of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The building was built by the Ford Motor Company for the California Pacific International Exposition, which was held in 1935 and 1936. The Ford Motor Company built a total of five exposition buildings for the world's fairs. This is the last remaining structure.
Nova Color Artists Acrylic Paint is an American supplier of acrylic paints. The company was founded in Culver City, California in 1965.
Salvador Roberto Torres is a Chicano artist and muralist and an early exponent of the Chicano art movement. He was one of the creators of Chicano Park, and led the movement to create its freeway-pillar murals. He was also a founder of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, California.
Judithe Hernández is an American artist and educator, she is known as a muralist, pastel artist, and painter. She is a pioneer of the Chicano art movement and a former member of the art collective Los Four. She is based in Los Angeles, California and previously lived in Chicago.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.
Guillermo Acevedo (1920-1988) was a Peruvian-born artist and master draftsman, most famous in the United States for his striking portrayal of Native Americans of the Southwest, and for his ability to capture and help preserve the disappearing architectural styles of old neighborhoods throughout the U.S. and abroad. Known to be an artist-observer with great sensitivity, Acevedo is recognized as a master at recording the human condition.
Victor Ochoa is an activist, painter, graphic designer and master muralist. He has painted over 100 murals, many of them in San Diego, California. He is considered one of the pioneers of San Diego's Chicano art movement. Ochoa was one of the original activists at Chicano Park and a co-founder of Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, both in San Diego. He helped establish the influential Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronteriza (BAW/TAF). Ochoa is also a teacher of art and Chicano heritage. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Venice Bi-Annual, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego and in the groundbreaking exhibition, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA). In addition to creating his own work, he is also a master of art preservation techniques, especially relating to murals. He is considered to be a "serious cultural resource in the border region.
Josephine "Josie" Talamantez is a historian from San Diego, California. She co-founded Chicano Park in 1970 and helped develop it into a cultural National Historic Landmark containing the largest collection of artistic murals in the United States. Talamantez was also the Chief of Programs for the California Arts Council, served as the director of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, and was on the board of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.
A Mexican American is a resident of the United States who is of Mexican descent. Mexican American-related topics include the following:
Margaret Garcia is a Chicana muralist, educator, and arts-advocate based in Los Angeles.
Hispanic and Latino Americans make up 30.1% of the population of the City of San Diego, California in the US, and 35.0% of the County of San Diego, with the majority of Hispanics and Latinos in San Diego being Mexican American.
1 2 3 4 5 "Biographical History". Centro Cultural de la Raza. Social Networks and Archival Context Project. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
1 2 3 Goldman, Shifra M. (1990). "How, Why, Where and When it All Happened: Chicano Murals of California". In Cockcroft, Eva Sperling; Barnet-Sanchez, Holly (eds.). Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals. Venice, California: Social and Public Art Resource Center. pp.52–53. ISBN0962641901.
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