The Center for Latin American Arts invites the public to its grand opening to celebrate the union of UTRGV’s diverse fields in the arts.
This multidisciplinary center, based in the College of Fine Arts, provides faculty and students with an enriching and cultural environment for Latin American music, dance, creative writing, theater, art and art history.
The grand opening will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in ELIBR 2.114 on the Edinburg campus. In Brownsville, the center is located in Music, Science & Learning Center 2.210.
The mission of the center is “to be a gathering place for collaboration and the promotion of the arts in Latin America through teaching, scholarship, performance, and creative works in diverse media to advance knowledge and connect with traditions that are important to communities in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond,” according to its website.
Katherine Moore McAllen is the director of the center, which is also run by College of Fine Arts Dean Steven Block and a committee of professors.
“The focus is to achieve learning through the power of art, to facilitate the exchange of ideas among students and faculty from diverse fields of the arts,” McAllen said. “Also, to encourage others who don’t specialize in the arts to learn how to connect with their creativity.”
The idea for this center originated from Block three years ago when he noticed the separation of groups within the College of Fine Arts.
“I saw a great need to draw this all together as part of a vision for the college,” he said.
Block wanted to put together a multidisciplinary place where different groups within the college could collaborate and create something bigger than their own projects.
The center also wants to create an international connection, McAllen said.
Regina Perez, an interdisciplinary studies in art history graduate student who studied under McAllen, said the new center will put UTRGV in a position to improve its understanding of its geographic location.
“UTRGV students will start, I think, connecting with their area more with events that the center could put together,” Perez said. “That’s going to make the university also recognized in other areas as well.”
Block’s goal is to build relationships outside the university and take pride in its cultural strengths along the U.S.-Mexico border. The dean wants to accentuate the Rio Grande Valley’s distinctive culture and make it the identity of UTRGV’s College of Fine Arts.
A main focus of the Latin American Arts Center is aimed toward education and outreach to the community. It encourages students and faculty “to study and perform the arts and to connect with traditions that are important to the RGV and [its] communities on both sides of the border,” according to McAllen.
The center also plans to help fund research and travel to conferences and symposia for students and faculty for new opportunities and unique learning experiences. The CLAA website has a page where donors can contribute.
“The whole point of this center is to provide excellence in teaching and student success to help our students achieve their dreams and get a college degree while connecting with their creativity,” McAllen said.
Plans for the center include hosting symposia, workshops, lectures, performances, theatre productions, publications and many more events.
Tom Cummins, a former director of the Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, will attend the grand opening, along with visiting scholars, such as Clara Bargellini from the National Autonomous University of Mexico-Mexico City, and diplomats from the Mexican consulates in Brownsville and McAllen.
Upcoming events include a Mayan Glyph reading workshop in October that will teach students about Mesoamerican indigenous cultures. In November, the center will host a music performance by a Colombian trio and a lecture from a Colombian professor. In December, a Ballet Folklórico group from Veracruz will perform.
For more information, visit https://www.utrgv.edu/claa/.
