A brief overview of our history: In the Summer of 2003, due to a need to represent Latino artists in Arizona, ACLAA (Arizona Coalition of Latin American Artists) was founded, setting a arts movement in Arizona not seen since the 1970's and early 1980's. In September of 2004, a reorganization of ACLAA was done and a new organization was born, CALACA Cultural Center was founded. The Calaca Cultural Center was set to cover a represention of all segments of Latino/Chicano arts, thus forming the basis of an art and culture movement, and setting the foundations of a statewide cultural center for Arizona. A public plan was formed and executed for the Calaca Cultural Center to represent and present the idea of a cultural center to private individuals, organizations, government entities, and others and tool every opportunity to participate in art exhibitions at galleries, community and government facilties, schools, hotels and parks across the Phoenix area and Tucson. It sponsored theatre, music concerts, public art exhibits, and conducted art and cultural workshops as means to promote the concept of a cultural center and gathered public opinion to this concept. A complete historical overview is still on the works and we will tell a full story of our arts movement as part of Latino arts historical archiving.

About the Images

All images presented here or related to this exhibition, are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Artists have the right to images of their own work. The photographer have all rights for any prints, usage or distribution of any images presented here. For information about the images contact us at the Contact Us page.

What is Culture

"To represent culture, you are manifesting one's life or the illustration of a community bound by the symbols that delineate a group of beliefs. Defining one's own culture is both a personal and a public action. It is personal since the input necessary to develop a sense of culture comes from private sources, such as family and community traditions. Definitions become social when they are expressed through art or acts of creation, left in the open for public interaction and interpretation. Sometimes you throw away past negative experiences and create new ideas to serve the educational, political, and aesthetic needs of a community." - Tonahua Tlanextik