Latino Cultural Center in need of public funding

The Latino Cultural Center Ad Hoc Committee met once again Monday to discuss the programming and services they envision for the new Cultural Center.

The only problem? The Center is anywhere from $800,000 to $3.5 million short of its required budget. Before the end of June 2020, when the committee sunsets, members will have to determine a site for the Center, a budget for construction, and programming to take place within its walls. They just don’t know where those walls will be yet.

“There’s a lot of cart before horses with this process,” Mitch Menchaca, the new director of Phoenix’s Office of Arts and Culture, told the committee. “We’re trying to talk about programming that could be existing in this facility without knowing the facility.”

However, Menchaca said that a parallel process between developing programming and site scouting would help with fundraising for the Center in numerous ways.

For example, some granting agencies require an overview of two to three years of programming before accepting applications. He also noted that these programming discussions, involving other Latino organizations and arts advocates, would help the Center establish more grassroots support before officially opening.

And the Center desperately needs financial support. Its initial budget began with $1.4 million in bond funding allocated for renovations to a now-closed Latino museum in 2001. Since then, the original fund has dwindled down to just under $1 million.

A large chunk disappeared when the City Council voted to to defer $302,000 of the bond in 2012.

A 2017 study assessing the scope and cost of the project found that constructing an entirely new Latino Cultural Center would cost around $4.5 million. However, smaller budgets, as low as $1.8 million, were also cited in the study. With these restraints, the Center would be placed in an existing rehabilitated building and would host a smaller amount of programs.

The study was also a messy process.

District 6 Councilman Sal DiCiccio criticized its narrow arts focus in 2017, writing in a press release, “The City’s plans ignore the diverse scope of Latino culture.” DiCiccio wanted to include professionals representing Latino culture in sports, food and religion. Now, the Ad Hoc Committee is made of both arts leaders and advocates as well as business owners.

The Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center, or ALAC, is one of the Latino organizations represented on the Ad Hoc Committee; A few committee members were initially surprised to find out they were even separate from the Latino Cultural Center at all.

ALAC’s involvement is complicated in part by the fact that their lease at the bottom floor of the Regency Garage ran out in 2018. The city is allowing them to stay on a month-to-month basis. This uncertain situation may give ALAC a louder voice than other Latino organizations in the push for the Latino Center, further complicating proceedings.

However, Jose Andres Giron, a resident artist at ALAC, underscored the group’s overarching message of unity.

“We’re not just ALAC, or CALA, or Sagrado,” Giron said during the meeting, referring to a selection of the Latino organizations involved in the development of the Cultural Center. “Yeah, we have our own identities … but we’re all Latinos and we all want to have a cultural center.”

“If we are to do this, I say we do it together.”