On Saturday, November 13, Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore had its 20th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION & GRAND OPENING in its beautiful new space at 12677 Glenoaks Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342. This end-of-year fundraiser was a roaring success. The evening began with a VIP Reception with invited Elected Officials and donors, followed by a program for the entire community. The celebration included local artisan vendors, appetizers catered by Tía Chucha’s Social Warrior Chef program, and a Son Jarocho fandango. Attendees enjoyed a tour of the new location, browsed the new bookstore space, and learned about upcoming and current programs offered through Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural.
Funds raised at the celebration will support Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore to transform community through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement. Donations are tax-deductible (Tax ID #47-0919488).
Here are a few photos of
this beautiful celebration. And don’t be a stranger! You will love what Tía
Chucha’s has to offer.
About Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore
The Northeast San Fernando Valley has a population of about 500,000 – the size of the city of Oakland – yet it had no bookstores, art galleries, or full-fledged cultural spaces until Tía Chucha's opened its doors in 2001. Thankfully, various local organizations have for decades provided services to address the many survival needs of a large number of economically insecure families and individuals in this area. Believing that it is also everyone’s right to explore and develop their innate creative gifts, Tia Chucha’s founders set out to correct the historic absence of life-enhancing artistic and literary options for this sector of the population. Melding vision with conviction, Tia Chucha’s was created as a space to embrace the equally important artistic development of our lives as human beings.
Tia Chucha’s began as a café, bookstore and cultural space owned and run by Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez, his wife Trini, and their brother-in-law Enrique Sanchez. In 2003 Luis, along with singer/musicologist Angelica Loa Perez and Xicano Rap artist Victor Mendoza established a next-door sister nonprofit to incorporate a full range of arts workshops. When in 2007 the cultural café and bookstore disbanded as an LLC, it donated its assets, including inventory, shelves, equipment, and more to the nonprofit to carry its mission forward.
Tia Chucha’s cultural center now provides year-round on-site and off-site free or low-cost arts and literacy bilingual intergenerational programming in mural painting, music, dance, writing, visual arts, healing arts sessions (such as reiki healing) and healing/talking circles. Workshops and activities also include Mexica ("Aztec") dance, indigenous cosmology/philosophy, and two weekly open mic nights (one in Spanish, the other in English). It also hosts author readings, film screenings, and art exhibits as well.
1 comment:
Los Angeles owes a lot of thanks to Trini and Luis J. Rodriguez for investing in our souls and spirits and minds.
Post a Comment