(C) El Paso Matters.org
This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



When will the Mexican American Cultural Center in Downtown El Paso open? [1]

['Elida S. Perez', 'More Elida S. Perez', 'El Paso Matters', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width']

Date: 2025-01-21

Behind the earth-tone, metal lattice that frames the south wall of the Mexican American Cultural Center in Downtown, promises of a sense of place, learning and celebration await visitors from El Paso and beyond.

Approved by voters more than 12 years ago, the center is nearing completion and aims to highlight the border’s unique Mexican American heritage and vibrant culture through theater, art, dance, food and music.

The last project of the $473 million 2012 quality of life bond, the MACC has grown in size, scope and cost – and faced multiple hurdles during construction that has pushed back its opening date several times since 2022. Another signature bond project, La Nube STEAM Discovery Center, opened in August, and voters in November scrapped the long-delayed Downtown arena.

City leaders now say they’re looking at spring to open the three-story, 41,000-square-foot cultural center sandwiched between the Main Library and the El Paso Museum of History at Cleveland Square Park.

“We are rounding the last corner,” said Ben Fyffe, managing director of El Paso’s Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.

He said he is committed to releasing a date for a spring opening by the end of January.

The El Paso Mexican American Cultural Center, funded by a 2012 quality of life bond, is expected to open this spring and will provide space for residents and visitors to experience and view Mexican American art and culture, Jan. 17, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

First budgeted at $5.75 million, the center’s original plans faced public scrutiny for not being slated as a stand-alone facility and being underfunded. A group of influential community leaders pushed for a more significant project, and after much debate and community input, the MACC grew to nearly $15 million.

The MACC merges into the west side of the library at Cleveland Square Park, both of which also underwent upgrades. The library received about $5.9 million in renovations, while the park received about $2 million. Altogether, the $26 million in projects were funded by about $8 million in voter-approved bonds and about $18 million in certificates of obligation – debt that doesn’t require voter approval. In January, the city approved transferring $160,000 from a canceled street project for final items such as a water reverse osmosis system.

City Engineer Yvette Hernandez said construction delays have been largely due to challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, when construction was first slated to begin. The pandemic created supply chain shortages, delays in shipping, and lack of adequate labor force, she said.

Other complications involved expanding and renovating an existing building – the library – rather than building a new facility from the ground up.

“There are no unforeseen conditions when we get to start on a blank slate,” Hernandez said. “When you tend to work with existing buildings and facilities, there are certain things that weren’t translated onto the old plans until you get into the bones of the structure.”

What’s in a name?

The name and focus of the center also changed over time, but excitement is growing as it gets closer to opening.

“From all that I hear, it’s a beautiful facility, which is exactly what we need – a beautiful facility

that honors the history and the cultural value,” said city Rep. Lily Limón, who serves on the board of the Mexican American Cultural Institute. The nonprofit organization had pledged to raise millions for the city’s cultural center before parting ways with the city after disagreements over its name and location.

Limón said MACI advocated for the city to locate the center at the site of the Abraham Chavez Theatre. Now, MACI is looking to open its own center focused on Chicano culture at the Lincoln Center on Durazno Avenue.

The Lincoln Center in South Central El Paso was spared demolition and awaits renovation as the Mexican American Cultural Institute. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

“It’ll be two different types of facilities,” she said. Born from what was once considered a classist slur, the term Chicano became widely used in the 1960s by Mexican Americans who sought political empowerment.

The MACC was initially called a Hispanic heritage center before MACI and other groups pushed to have it renamed and focus more specifically on Mexican Americans – U.S.-born people of Mexican descent. The term Hispanic was largely used starting in the 1980s when the U.S. Census created a category of people with ancestry in Spanish-speaking countries before the term Latino became more widely accepted.

Celebrating past and present through arts

Rebecca Muñoz, MACC director, said the center’s programming will be a balance between traditional arts and crafts to new interpretations such as laser printing. The center will also have a mix of art and dance, such as ballet folklorico and salsa, as well as cooking classes for a variety of Mexican cuisines.

“The mission as we’re building out programming is really to showcase the vibrancy of the culture and heritage of the Mexican American community of the borderlands,” Muñoz said. “So, it’s to celebrate past and present and to really situate ourselves as a key destination for our community to see themselves reflected in this institution.”

The El Paso Mexican American Cultural Center, funded by a 2012 quality of life bond, is expected to open this spring and will provide space for residents and visitors to experience and view Mexican American art and culture, Jan. 17, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

The MACC will have multiple classrooms and work spaces and features an exterior facade LED screen facing the park.

The first floor will have a black box theater, exhibition gallery, auditorium with green rooms, teaching kitchen, multi-purpose/catering kitchen and wood shop. The second floor will have a community gallery, dance studio, maker space, hands-on art classroom, art in residence studio, recording studio, digital classroom, board room and administrative offices. The third floor features an outdoor terrace with a bar and prep kitchen.

Muñoz said she and her staff are being careful to ensure the space is accessible and welcoming to the community.

“(We want) to ensure that it’s a welcoming space where you see your interests, where you see your histories, where you see your culture, where you see your family’s recipes celebrated and honored,” she said.

The hope is also to create a legacy and that the space becomes a laboratory of cultural exploration, appreciation and a way to honor those that helped make the center happen.

MACC has already provided cultural activities for the community, including at the Dia de Muertos Festival and at WinterFest.

Children participate in the Cacao & Grabado activities hosted by the Mexican American Cultural Center during El Paso WinterFest 2024. Children learned about cocoa beans and engraving. (Courtesy MACC) Children participate in the Cacao & Grabado activities hosted by the Mexican American Cultural Center during El Paso WinterFest 2024. Children learned about cocoa beans and engraving. (Couresy MACC)

The center is estimated to cost about $1.5 million a year to operate with general fund dollars. The MACC, which will have 20 employees, is expected to generate some revenue from rental fees for use of the facility, some of which are outlined in the 2025 budget book. Muñoz said the fee schedule is comparable to other facilities and is meant to recoup costs rather than make a profit.

Fyffe said he has been working on this project for nearly 14 years and to see the MACC come to fruition is a significant milestone for the community.

“You have people in this community who remember being punished in school for speaking Spanish. As recently as the early 90s, people were writing angry letters to the Museum of Art when they first started showcasing Chicano art,” Fyffe said. “To go from that to a brick-and-mortar facility that is actually doing this full time, celebrating, highlighting, spotlighting, I think for me – it gives me chills thinking about how far we’ve come.”

Creating a cultural hub

Fyffe said the location in Cleveland Square Park and in the Downtown Arts District was crucial for future partnerships and collaborations.

“The location of the MACC was incredibly important,” Fyffe said, adding the location was discussed over 18 months with a number of community groups and a subcommittee of the Bond Oversight Advisory Committee. The City Council approved the location in September 2018.

The “Treacherous Crossing” at Cleveland Square in Downtown El Paso pays tribute to the men of Company E, most of whom were Mexican-Americans from El Paso, who served during World War II. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

The center is located in what’s known as the Downtown Arts District – a state-designated, state-recognized cultural hub for El Paso – that will allow for partnerships and collaborations between multiple museums, cultural organizations, Fyffe said. The site will also allow the city to tap into funds from the state for things like marketing, programming and capital expenses, he added.

Once the MACC and library open, Cleveland Square Park will be a fully functional cultural area.

Hernandez said renovations were made to about 67,590 square feet of the library, including a new main entrance with a glass façade. The renovations provide an outdoor viewing area with a green space that includes an outdoor stair-step seating space.

The Digital Information Gateway in El Paso, nicknamed DIGIE, is an interactive wall at the entrance of the El Paso Museum of History that contains a collection of more than 17,000 images and videos, Jan 17, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters) The Digital Information Gateway in El Paso, nicknamed DIGIE, is an interactive wall at the entrance of the El Paso Museum of History that contains a collection of more than 17,000 images and videos, Jan 17, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

The history museum’s Digie Wall, which opened around 2012, had been closed for about a year for upgrades and reopened in October.

“(The Digie Wall) serves as a repository for the community. It is pretty much the only archive in El Paso that the community curates,” said Erica Marin, director of the El Paso Museum of History. Marin said the community is always invited to visit Digie’s website and share their photos and their family histories.

“If you send pictures of your nephew’s graduation or of your grandmother in 1948, it’s going to go up there. That’s really important because when we talk about history, we look at it through the lens of a people’s history here at the Museum of History,” she said. “So everybody’s story is important and just as valid as the next person’s. So that is one of the most – I feel – one of the most democratic ways in which we include community and storytelling.”

The Digie Wall upgrades cost about $250,000, funded with museum contingency funds, and included updating technology, including increasing storage space and installing more efficient digital screens.

“Technology moves fast and things become obsolete, including screens and so those screens needed some major upgrades,” Marin said. “Thankfully, we had some set-aside (funds).”

[END]
---
[1] Url: http://elpasomatters.org/2025/01/21/el-paso-macc-mexican-american-cultural-center-downtown-main-library/

Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.