Over the weekend, the City of El Paso opened the doors to its new Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC), a project over a decade in the making.
In 2012, El Paso voters approved the Quality of Life Bond, which included funds to support an array of capital improvements, including the MACC. Initially, the new center was expected to open in Spring 2024, however, unforeseeable delays pushed the opening to 2025.
The Mexican American Cultural Center in El Paso
The auditorium within the Mexican American Cultural Center in El Paso
The three-story center is 41,000 square feet and sits between the City’s Main Library and the EL Paso Museum of History. The building features a 2,754-square-foot black box theatre, a 200-seat auditorium, an exhibition gallery, a multi-use community gallery, a teaching kitchen and commercial kitchen, art classrooms, a dance and acting studio, maker spaces, a recording studio, an artist-in-residence studio, and a rooftop terrace.
A recording studio at the Mexican American Cultural Center in El Paso
The rooftop terrace at the Mexican American Cultural Center in El Paso.
The main gallery, overseen by Ramon Cardenas, will host two to four exhibitions each year. The inaugural exhibition ¡Es Hora! / ¡It’s Time!: Mexican American Art in El Paso 1960 – Now, features works by 18 artists with ties to the city. Featured artists include Luis Jimenez, Manuel Acosta, Mago Gandara, Adrian Esparza, Marianna Olague, and Troy Montes Michie. The community gallery debuts with Los Colores de Mi Cultura: Works by Maria Almeida Natividad, highlighting a local artist and educator who has influenced generations of El Pasoans.
Maria Natividad, “Menudo-Breakfast of Champions,” 2010, watercolor and Prismacolor pencils
Rebecca Muñoz, Director of the MACC, told Glasstire that in its first few years, the MACC will focus on presenting local artists. Similarly, the artist-in-residence program will feature some of the artists included in the inaugural exhibition, such as Marianna Olague, Marco Sanchez, and Ingrid Leyva. Each artist will have a month-long residency, and moving forward, the program will switch to an application-based process.
Marianna Olague, “Mirror Charms”(detail), 2024, oil on canvas
Ms. Olague told Glasstire, “I’m incredibly honored to exhibit alongside many other talented artists from the El Paso-Juarez area. The more places we have to show, congregate, and collaborate, the better. The MACC provides another vital space for artists like myself to connect with our community. So many of us make work about the culture we grew up in, and at the MACC we can share our stories and continue that legacy together while enriching our artistic careers.”
Programming at the MACC includes a variety of options. In recognition of Cesar Chavez Day (March 31), during its first week the organization will offer daily drop-in activities celebrating Chavez, as well as screenings of PBS’ Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. On Sunday, the teaching kitchen will host a drop-in culinary workshop in which participants will make elote with Chef Yuri Hernandez. Learn more about upcoming events at the MACC, via the organization’s website.
A teaching kitchen inside the Mexican American Cultural Center in El Paso
In addition to presenting arts and cultural events and programs, the MACC is also available to book private events, such as corporate events, conferences, parties, or receptions.
