The Center for Latin American Arts hosted its second in-person event since the beginning of the pandemic. The Día de los Muertos Fall Registration Social took place last Wednesday. Courtesy Photo
The UTRGV Center for Latin American Arts hosted its Fall Registration Social on Wednesday in its Edinburg office. The event educated students on how to register for the 2022-2023 academic year and apply for financial aid and scholarships.
Antonio Alvarez, the student point of contact for the UTRGV scholarship team and presenter at the registration social, said incoming students at UTRGV will need to be admitted by Dec. 1 in order for their scholarship application to be considered, while current students have until Feb. 1, 2022, to apply through the online scholarship portal.
Twenty students attended the event, which was co-hosted by the Office of the Registrar, Financial Aid and Scholarships.
Although the social primarily focused on upcoming opportunities to pay for tuition, the Center for Latin American Arts proved to have many more opportunities for students.
CLAA is “a gathering space on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campus to provide students with a place to learn and collaborate to promote the arts and learn about Latin American art,” said Katherine McAllen, director of CLAA and an assistant professor in art and design.
She believes that the CLAA is beneficial to the university because of UTRGV’s proximity to the border of Mexico.
“Latin culture is more prevalent in this university than any other in Texas,” McAllen said. “Our main goal is to connect with traditions that are important to our community here in the Rio Grande Valley and in Latin America with our positioning so close to Mexico and Latin America.”
Aside from art events, CLAA also hosts lectures, workshops and round tables to help students find their niche in the center.
“We want to help students find the resources that they need for their own success,” McAllen said. “They also have the opportunity to meet visiting scholars from Latin America, around the U.S., Europe and Asia, to meet leaders in the field of Latin American Art that come visit UTRGV.”
The center is hosting an Artists Summit, a workshop for writers and artists, Nov. 9 and 10 in its office on the Edinburg campus, University Library 2.114. The event will feature nationally acclaimed speakers, such as Sister Norma Pimentel, a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus and executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.
To learn more about the CLAA’s upcoming events or financial aid and scholarship opportunities, visit the center’s website at https://www.utrgv.edu/claa.
