OUR PURPOSE AND VISION

Our Mission

San Diego's Centro Cultural de la Raza was founded in 1970 as a Chicano Community Cultural Center and functions as an alternative space that encourages and facilitates artistic
growth and cultural exchange in the San Diego/Tijuana border region.

The Centro provides classes and features a dynamic interdisciplinary schedule of events, including exhibits, musical performances, installation art, readings, receptions,
Azteca dance, Puerto Rican Bomba, Teatro Chicano, Ballet Folklorico, film screenings, and other events. We welcome you to visit the Centro and invite you to participate in the exciting programs.

OUR TEAM

Centro Board, L to R: Dr. Jade Power Sotomayor, Maria Figueroa, Dr. Roberto D. Hernández, Ymoat Luna, Amelia Enrique, Esau Cortez, Dr. Norell Martinez

Centro is powered by the passion and dedication of our community. While we’ve recently welcomed a few staff members, our work continues to be led by the tireless efforts of committed volunteers who show up every day to support and uplift our mission.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Centro Board (Dec 2024), L to R: Sage Soledad, Ymoat Luna, Dr. Jade Power Sotomayor, Ana Hernández (Executive Director ), Maria Figueroa, Dr. Mario E. Aguilar, Karla Reyes (Operations Manager), Esau Cortez, Dr. Roberto D. Hernández, Dr. Norell Martinez

Our Board of Trustees guides Centro’s vision with wisdom, integrity, and a deep commitment to social justice. They provide strategic leadership, help secure resources, and ensure that our work stays true to the values and needs of the communities we serve.

What We’ve Achieved

  • Centro has been able to expand to three paid staff members in 2024! This is the first time in 13 years that we have full time paid staff.

  • Centro Cultural de la Raza, one of the nation’s longest running Chicana/o, Mexican, Indigenous and Latina/o/x cultural centers, has received half a million dollars from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the country’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities.

  • The Centro has published exhibition catalogues, poetry series and children’s books. It is also referenced in a number of publications such as Made in Aztlan: Centro Cultural de la Raza, Fifteenth Anniversary, among others. The list below is a sample:

    • Maize poetry series

    • Tula y Tonan children’s book series

    • The Border Art Workshop, 1984-1989 Exhibition Catalogue

    • The Broken Line/La Linea Quebrada

    • La Frontera/The Border, Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience

    • Fragmentos de Barro

    • Separate but Assimilated: Latino Immigrant Communities and their Museums

    • Rebozos of Love

    • Nationchild Plumaroja

    • “Immigrants in Our Own Land”: A Chicano Literature Review and Pedagogical ASSESSMENT

    • The Bronze Screen

    • Postborder City: Cultural Spaces of Bajalta California

    • Negotiating Performance

    • Globalization on the Line: Culture, Capital and Citizenship at US Borders

    • A Companion to CulturalSTUDIES

    • The Fence and the River: Culture and Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border

    • Poor Dancer's Almanac

    • Race and Politics: Asian Americans, Latinos, and Whites in a Los Angeles Suburb

    • Mexicanos: A History of Mexicans in the United States

    • The Ethnic Eye: Latino Media Arts

    • Chicano Art Inside/Outside the Master's House: Cultural Politics and the Cara Exhibition

    • Rethinking Borders

    • The Expediency of Culture: Uses of Culture in the Global Era

    • Hispanic Spaces, Latino Places: Community and Cultural Diversity in ContemporaryAMERICA

    • Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California

    • Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986

    • More Adventures with Kids in San Diego

    • Dimensions of theAMERICAS : Art and Social Change in Latin America and the United States

    • Lonely Planet Coastal California

    • Chicano Drama: Performance, Society and Myth

    • The Latino Holiday Book: From Cinco de Mayo to Dia de Los Muertos: The Celebrations and Traditions

    • Calling California Home, A Lively Look at What It Means to Be a Californian

    • With Other Eyes: Looking at Race and Gender in Visual Culture

    • From Totems to Hip-Hop: Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002

    • Lowrider

    • De Paseo: Curso Intermedio de Español

    • Feminist Rhetorical Theories

    • LOCAL Motion: The Travels of Chicana and Latina Popular Culture

    • Barrio-Logos: Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature and Culture

    • Urban Exile: Collected Writings of Harry Gambia Jr.

    • Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Readings

    • Race-Ingo Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History

    • A Hispanic View: American Politics and the Politics of Immigration

    • Women Making Art: History, Subjectivity, Aesthetics

    • CONTESTED Terrain: Diversity, Writing, and Knowledge

    • Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements

    • San Diego: California's Cornerstone

    • Contemporary Trends in Landscape Architecture

    • Border Writing: The Multidimensional Text

    • Celluloid Nationalism and Other Melodramas: From Post-Revolutionary Mexico to Fin De Silo

    • MidAmerican

    • O Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance

    • Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader

    • Reading California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000

    • Space, Site, Intervention: SituatingINSTALLATION Art

    • Other Sisterhoods: Literary Theory and U.S. Women of Color

    • Shot inAMERICA : Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema

more about Centro

Centro’s History

Black and white image shows  a man and a woman standing in front of two doors with writing that reads "Welcome Bienvenides"

Raza Visions

Our Policies

image shows colorful mural of Cuauhtemoc's buring feet with eagles and animals all around in different colors, and a fist in the middle left

Documents

Image shows a red star on the top left with a woman painted in black dancing. Underneath it reads "Mujeres en Resistencia" in white with black background

GET IN TOUCH TODAY

For inquiries, collaborations, or to learn more about Centro Cultural De La Raza, feel free to reach out to us.

We welcome your feedback and support in our community endeavors.