CORRESPONDENCE- 65D - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

T A Department of Chieana /o Latina /o Studies CAL STATE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGLELES December 20, 2016 Honorable Santa Ana City Council and Mayor, It is with great pride and respect for our city that I write to you this letter of support for Centro Cultural de Mexico (El Centro), a non - profit that has served Orange County for over 22 years. I am not surprised that the city's Community Enhancement Program Grant (CEPG) has scored El Centro among the top 10 organizations. El Centro stands out among local organizations -- it is the only community -based organization of its kind with 20 years of arts and culture programming experience. Today, the council has an opportunity to support this (often overlooked) important community asset. I urge you to fund this organization. El Centro's contributions to the Arts and Culture of Santa Ana are widely known. My colleague Jose Cruz Gonzalez from Calstate Los Angeles recently (10/25/16) presented his distinguished lecture on a key collaboration with El Centro Dialogues /Dialogos. The project "was a two -year bilingual theatre project Dialogue /Dialogos: The Long Road Today that gathered stories from the Santa Ana Latino community and then turned those stories into a major theatrical work involving the Santa Ana community, Cal State L.A. students, and artists" such as Son del Centro. This is one of many outstanding examples of how El Centro and its artists /musicians collaborate and contribute to community- engaged theatre that empowers residents to tell their stories and to find healing through sharing them. Members of Son del Centro — who piloted the Fandangos in Schools project at the Orange County Educational Arts Academy (OCEAA) — have been recorded in the Library of Congress as part of the American Folklife Center archive. As a longtime resident of Santa Ana, and a volunteer at Noche de Altares festival, which draws over 40,000 attendees, I am proud of El Centro's work in creating such a culturally vibrant event in the heart of downtown Santa Ana. It provides so many, young and old, an opportunity to be civically engaged in producing an outstanding positive representation of Santa Ana communities. El Centro has a proven record of projects that promote the city's initiatives including the Arts and Culture Plan and the Strategic Plan. Strategic Plan Goal 5, Objective 5c is Community Health, Livability, Engagement & Sustainability - promotes a strong arts and culture infrastructure. At this time, the organization is about to become a permanent part of the city infrastructure as it is moving into a building of its own in downtown. The city has an opportunity to support a unique asset that can generate public and private support and resources to strengthen, expand and stabilize funding for the arts. Arts and culture initiatives like these from the Centro promote wellbeing in the City, healthy identities for youth, and civically and community engaged education. Thank you for supporting the Centro and its invaluable work with local residents and beyond. Respectfully, a' Ester Hernandez, Ph.D. Professor Department of Chicana /o Latina /o Studies 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032 -8502 (323) 343.5349 FAX: (323) 343.5609 www.calstatelo.edu