Serving the community thru arts & culture along with my sister organization CHICANO PARK.
Music
All the bands that used to play at the Centro...
...BILL CABALLERO, RHYTHM & THE METHOD, B-SIDE PLAYERS, MAIZ, QUINAZO, LOS LOBOS, STEVE "EL PARCHE" JORDAN, ANNUAL CONJUNTO FESTIVAL, ANNUAL CHICANO ROOTS ROCK FESTIVAL, LALO GUERRERO, AGUA DULCE, and many...many more!
Movies
All the films that used to screen at the Centro...
...and the new feature by SOCC member Pocha Peña which SOLD OUT its two screenings at NewFest in New York, the largest GLBT fest in the nation!
EAST SIDE STORY will play this month at the SAN DIEGO LATINO FESTIVAL on March 16 & 18. The cast & crew will be present on the 3/18 show!! Log onto www.sdlatinofilm.com for more info.
Also, AZTEC GOLD, the Arts & Culture series by Save Our Centro members Victor Payan y La Pocha.
Watch their episode on the immigrant marches in San Diego...
Books
I LOVE books, archives, and special collections...unfortunately, over $100,000 of my permanent collection was lost, damaged or destroyed! And most of the people responsible for this destruction ARE STILL EMPLOYED by my administration. Please ask my Board WHY??? www.centroraza.com/contact_us.htm
Send your thoughts to the Centro/SOCC Transition Team Members at:
pocharte@sbcglobal.net
franciscovalle@cox.net
cdb@sdhc.org
christina@centroraza.com
pachavez@ucsd.edu
john@centroraza.com
payansd@aol.com
Please get to know these Transition Team Members and email them regularly so they can communicate to my Board and Administration how to set things right!
Heroes
Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Emiliano Zapata, The Brown Berets, Corky Gonzalez, Tommie Camarillo, Modesta Avila, Marco Anguiano, & All the GENTE who have held the Boycott against the occupying forces within my walls.
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Irene Mena, "Mother of the Brown Berets"
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"The Ambassador de Aztlan offers his support en la lucha to Save Our Centro. In Aztlan we take a "no borders philosophy" towards success. Because there are no borders between us and our destiny!"
---The Ambassador de Aztlan (aka - Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, Esteban Zul)
I am the vision for a NEW Centro Cultural de La Raza in San Diego. 36 years ago, I was founded by community members who marched out of Chicano Park and demanded a Chicano cultural center from the Balboa Park administration. They occupied a building in for days and nights until I was given over to them. They cleaned me up and painted my walls with colorful murals and converted me into a world-class art center!
I was so proud to be the creative matrix of so many amazing artists, activists and art movements. The Border Arts Workshop, Judy Baca, Lalo Guerrero and many others participated in my programming. It was great to be an art center which was dynamic, utilized by the larger grassroots community AND respected by the legitimate art world. For 30 years, I defined myself in relation to my community. My staff and administrators worked diligently towards furthering the understanding and evolution of Chican@/Indigen@ kulture all over the Globe. I was a CATALAYAST for Art and Activism!
Then 6 years ago, I was taken over by a new group of people...those who abused and villified my Gente. They chased my community away and created barriers to communication. They locked my doors and during their care a large part of my permanent collection dissapeared. They slandered my gente and and I was sad because my doors were closed most of the year. These were very fearfull people.
Now their unfounded fears are beginning to dissolve. They have come to the table with a loving community who had been fighting to liberate me. The current administration is beginning to talk with my people!
My community wants answers regarding funding the Centro administrators received over the last 6 years and also about what happened to 30+ years of artwork left in their care. Most of all, my community wants healing and is working with my Board to collectively find solutions to build a NEW Centro we can all be proud of.
** Help rebuild the CENTRO today! **
Send in resumes/nominations for Board seats and Staff Positions to:
It was only a few years ago that Victor Payan was standing outside Balboa Park's Centro Cultural de la Raza, encouraging folks to stay away from what had once been the heart of San Diego's Chicano arts community. He handed out flyers with "Enron Cultural de la Raza" across the top that explained that in 2000, a new board of directors took over leadership of the cultural center, "ceased visual arts programming and shut off attempts at dialogue.
"Since then," the flyer read, "the doors of the Centro have been closed to the Chicano/Chicana cultural community."
Payan sent CityBeat an e-mail Friday: The 7-year-long boycott is over. With the help of the National Conflict Resolution Center, the Save Our Centro Coalition (SOCC), of which Payan is the unofficial spokesperson, reached an agreement with the Centro's current leadership.
"It was about six months of mediation sessions," he said. "But the process did work."
SOCC comprises some of San Diego's most respected artists and community leaders, like Victor Ochoa, Mario Torero, Perry Vasquez, Tommie Camarillo and Sal Barajas; many SOCC members were around when the Centro, an old water tank covered in murals, first opened in the late '60s after the San Diego City Council kicked Chicano artists out of what's now the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Over the boycott's seven years, those artists and activists have had to find other venues at which to hold their events.
"There's a lot of artists, performers, academics and community groups who are just waiting for the opportunity to collaborate and have programming at the Centro," Payan said, "to demonstrate just the tremendous potential that exists—the creative renaissance that the Chicano art community is experiencing and to address the serious issues that we're facing."
* APPLY FOR BOARD, ARTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND STAFF POSITIONS *If you have any questions or would like to be considered as a candidate for the NEW Centro's Board or Staff, please email your resume to community@saveourcentro.org or to any of the SOCC mediation representatives listed below.
Patricio Chavez - pachavez@ucsd.edu
Carlos C. de Baca - cdb@sdhc.org
Sandra Peña-Sarmiento - pocharte@sbcglobal.net
Victor Payan - vpayan@aztecgoldtv.com
Who I'd like to meet:
Those desiring to build the Centro into an organization that serves its community - Artistically, Socially, Politically. I was created to love and empower my community!
** CENTRO BOYCOTT OVER! **
RE:UNION C/S
Featuring multidisciplinary art from the past, present and future of the much revered cultural institution.
RE:UNION C/S will bring together a mix of original founders as well as artists who have never shown their art inside the circular walls of the Centro, including:
Guillermo Acevedo
Pablo Aztlan Acevedo
Guillermo Aranda
Valerie Aranda
Berenice Badillo
Carlos Beltran
Selina Calvo
Carmela Castrejon
Memo Cavada
Carlos C. de Baca
Mario Chacon
Elida Silvas Chavez
Patricio Chavez
Chikle
Crol
Maria Dybbro Aguirre
endy
Nuvia Crisol Guerra
Ricardo Islas
Carmen Kalo
Mario Lara
Eloissa Leonna
Fred Lonidier
Teresa Yolanda López
Richard A. Lou
Oralia Loza
Magu
Bob Rob Medina
Victor Ochoa
Jose Olague
Victor Payan
Pocha Peña
Xilomen Rios
Guillermo Rosette
Elaine Ruiz
Robert J. Sanchez
Arturo Singh
Sir Maldoror
Miguel-Angel Soria
Mario Torero
Gloria R. Torres
Salvador Roberto Torres
Alberto Varela
Perry Vasquez
Werc
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Centro Cultural de la Raza
2125 Park Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92101
619-235-6135
619-595-0034 fax
www.centroraza.com
events@centroraza.com
====================
Videos by the Media Arts Center San Diego.
With the end of the seven-year-long boycott, the reintegration of the Centro has begun. Join the Centro Cultural de la Raza, the Save Our Centro Coalition, and the greater community as we pay homage to the past and sing praises for a better future.
FREE opening reception Saturday, June 30, 2007 from 6:30-10pm.
Schedule
6:30pm - Blessing by Nick Elliot of the Manzanita Reservation
Danza Azteca coordinated by Mary Lou Valencia
(All danzantes welcome)
7pm - MC’s Victor Payan and Sandra Sarmiento de Payan
Centro introductions by Board President Maria Cervantes
Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan
7:30pm - Latin Jazz with Quinteto Caballero
8:15pm - Memorial tribute to Sr. Julio Enrique and Marco Anguiano
Recognition of Centro Mediators, Transition Team and others
8:45pm - Chunky y Los Alacranes with special guests
(Pepe Villarino and others)
10pm - End of reception
Plus, a community altar built by Victor Ochoa. Please bring nonreturnable items for the altar.
RE:UNION C/S runs from June 30 through August 12, 2007.
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A series of events will also take place before and during RE:UNION C/S, including:
Radio La Chusma
(Latin/Reggae/Rock from El Paso)
Thursday, June 28 @ 8pm
$10 ($5 students, patrons, seniors)
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Pistolera
(Latin/Folk/Alternative from New York City)
Saturday, July 7 @ 8pm (Q&A to follow concert)
$10
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Art of the Streetz
Live grafitti demo by Werc, Crol, Victor Ochoa and others
Lowrider exhibit curated by Carlos C. de Baca
Custom bikes by Sir Maldoror
Panel discussion: Chicano Art and the Revitalization of the SD/Tijuana Urban Space, moderated by Larry Herzog, with Mario Torero, Luis Ituarte, and Norma Chavez Peterson
Saturday, July 14 @ 2pm
Donations accepted
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El Otro Son
(Son Jarocho)
Saturday, July 14 @ 8pm
Cost tba...
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CHICANOZAURUZ 101: A Crash Course in Chicano Art by Victor Ochoa
Saturday, July 21 @ 2pm
Donations accepted
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Teatro Izcalli’s Chicano Rehab
Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28 @ 8pm
$15 adults, $10 students
==========
Centro Cultural de la Raza
2125 Park Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92101
619-235-6135
619-595-0034 fax
www.centroraza.com
events@centroraza.com
The Centro Cultural de la Raza is sponsored in part by the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, foundations, corporations and people like you.
********** CITYBEAT COVERS SHOW *****
San Diego City Beat
Get the party started The boycott's over, baby
by Kelly Davis
Get the party started
Fans of Chicano art have been awaiting this announcement for years—seven, to be exact—the length of time a large part of San Diego's Chicano arts community has stayed away from Balboa Park's Centro Cultural de la Raza, the water-tower-turned-cultural-arts-center adopted by the Chicano arts community four decades ago. In 2000, when a new board of directors took the Centro in a direction the artists felt didn't honor its history as a place not only for art, but also political ..among other grievances), the Save Our Centro Coalition started a boycott. The boycott ended in April after months of intense mediation with a new board.
Re: Union C/S ,the Centro's first exhibit since the boycott ended, kicks off Saturday, June 30, with a reception from 6:30 to 10 p.m. The list of artists whose work will be on display is too long to include here, but here are a few: Carlos Beltran, Mario Chacon, Patricio Chavez, Eloissa Leonna, Richard A. Lou, Bob Rob Medina, Victor Ochoa, Victor Payan and Sandra Sarmiento-Payan, Mario Torero and Perry Vasquez. Chunky y Los Alacranes and Quinteto Caballero will provide the music and Media Arts Center San Diego offers a selection of curated videos.
The exhibit runs through Aug. 12 and features a different event each weekend, like New York indie band Pistolera on July 7 and a live graffiti demo on July 14.
Amada Irma Pérez, award-winning children's author of picture books such as "My Diary from Here to There," "My Very Own Room," and "Nana's Big Surprise", and an advocate of literacy programs and multicultural understanding, will lead a FREE workshop for teachers on the subject of storytelling and encouraging students to write. To register or for more information, visit http://istep. sdsu. edu/professional_development. htm#kidlit
LA vs WAR 4 Days of Art + Expression for Peace April 10-13 Downtown LA
Once again we're proud to be collaborating with our "Yo, What Happenned to Peace" friends.
Artists are invited to submit hand crafted prints for Peace and against the unjust War that should have never happenned in the first place. We are looking for new work for "LA vs WAR" exhibit. You may submit pre-existing art that is not in the YO.. collection as well.
Deadline: We must have your artwork no later than April 1, 2008
OPEN CALL FOR ART SUPPORTING BARACK OBAMA Open to ALL: i pic obama
We pick Barack Obama...The only candidate who can bring about a positive future. " i pic obama " is a little project we're putting together to show positive images reflecting this choice.
We are looking for art & photography about Barack Obama. We will post all images on our page for all to see as long as the image is YOURS. It could be a photo you took at a rally, of some street art you spotted, original art you made, etc. Please include name, title, etc. to be displayed with your image.
Does anybody have any questions???
Clearly we reserve the right NOT to post a pic if deemed inappropriate. .
Featuring multidisciplinary art from the past, present and future of the much revered cultural institution.
RE:UNION C/S will bring together a mix of original founders as well as artists who have never shown their art inside the circular walls of the Centro, including:
un poquito de risa nunca cae mal....hey The NEW Centro Cultural de La Raza, espero que estes muy bien!!, suerte y saludos!
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Can hardly wait for the next big show at the Centro -- celebrating the REINTEGRATION of our community!!
Mientras tanto, enjoy the newest KOC caper rockin DC...
** KEEP ON CROSSIN' scandalizes the SENATE! **
CONTROVERSIAL AD SPURS IMMIGRATION DEBATE ON CAPITOL HILL
Washington DC - Senators voting on the controversial immigration reform bill were surprised to find a full page color ad in the beltway journal “Roll Call” quoting a prominent Republican ex-President who defended the rights of immigrants.
Reaction to the ad was immediate and included inquiries by a pro-immigration PAC and the conservative newspaper The Washington Times.
The ad, which featured a quote from Republican ex-President Abraham Lincoln, was created by artists Victor Payan and Perry Vasquez, the duo behind the border art sensation Keep On Crossin’.
In the 1855 quote, Lincoln is addressing the hysteria created by the so-called Know Nothing Party which attacked Irish and German immigrants.
The quote, which begins, “As a nation we began by declaring ‘all men are created equal,”’ continues by saying, “When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’”
The ad also features the text “Republicans in the Know Say YES to Fair Immigration Policy,” in which the word “YES” is spelled out in pennies. The ad then says “Don’t Be a Know Nothing. Be a Republican.”
This controversial ad coincides with comparisons between today’s anti-immigrant sentiment and that of the 1850s also being made by voices within the Republican Party.
In a statement to the Times, Vasquez and Payan said, “Many Republicans are in favor of fair immigration polic
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