Started in 2009 by a group of 40 artists, the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center, or ALAC, is an organization that aims to provide exposure to Latino culture and education through art.
“We’re helping to really shape the thought of what a Latino is,” said Marcelino Quiñonez, the director of programs and events at ALAC. “We are not one-dimensional, but on the contrary, we’re expressive and vast and knowledgeable in an array of areas.”
Located at Second and Adams streets, ALAC can be easily recognized by the nearly 10-foot-tall statue of a Day of the Dead doll that towers in front of the entrance to the organization’s gift shop.
The building is filled with rooms and hallways that showcase the work of local Latino artists and provides a studio for the artists.
Carlos Rivas is a resident artist with ALAC who works in the center’s gift shop. He said he earned his way into the center by volunteering for a year.
“I get to enjoy a lot of the space here that we have,” Rivas said. “We have a studio in the back, so whenever I’m not working, I get to make art.”
Rivas, whose style of art ranges from spray-painted murals to engraved paintings, said art is an incredible way to share culture.
“Through art, we can communicate without talking to each other. I think it does things that words can’t do,” Rivas said. “It just moves mountains. Art is powerful.”
Rivas said it was this type of communication that helped inspire the creation of ALAC.
“We felt a need for people to absorb culture,” Rivas said. “People come here from all over the world, and we needed a place where we could show people what we’re about, show people art and give Latinos a place to exhibit their work.”
Quiñonez said ALAC showcases Latino culture through art and brings money into downtown Phoenix.
“The thing that people don’t understand about the arts is that this is an economic engine,” Quiñonez said. “We are able to bring people to downtown.”
ALAC, which is a nonprofit organization, hosts events downtown that are free to the public. The organization also rents out space to different organizations for workshops and other events.
Stephanie Parra, a representative for Teach for America, said she believed ALAC is a great place to bring people downtown. ALAC was chosen to host her organization’s recent alumni retreat, where it held workshops.
“We really wanted to expose our national team members to the in-depth culture of what it is to be here in Phoenix as a Latino,” Parra said.
Parra said the retreat was geared toward engaging diversity within the education movement. She said the group chose ALAC because of its mission and goals.
“They just want to promote the Latino culture through art and really promote the Chicano art, the Latino art, in the form of a gallery,” Parra said. “I also really like that they focus a lot on local artists and supporting them.”
Art causes a shift that takes people out of their homes and away from their televisions and exposes them to culture, said Quiñonez, who is a stage performer and writer.
“There’s a saying that the original revolutionaries are all poets, and by that, they’re all artists,” Quiñonez said. “Artists have a way of thinking about possibilities over fear. Artists have a way of emphasizing with anybody regardless of gender, age, ethnicity; we look at the human condition.”
ALAC plans in 2014 to host different events celebrating Latino holidays, including Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos.
The organization’s last Dia de los Muertos festival, which happened on Nov. 1 and 2 during the First Fridays art walk, drew in a crowd of about 1,000 people, Quiñonez said.
“The arts force us to celebrate who we are through our culture,” Quiñonez said. “In celebrating that, it goes on to preserve. Something could easily die yesterday, but because of art, it lives another day.”
There is a $25 yearly fee to join ALAC, after which an artist can submit his work for approval by the organization. Once it’s approved, the work is showcased in the gallery.
ALAC is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Contact the reporter at Tchawtho@asu.edu
