Berkeley, CA
A cultural institution that embraces the arts as a means to examine deeper social issues.
The La Peña Cultural Center is committed to the belief that culture can be used as a vehicle for social change. The Center presents local, national and international music, theater, dance, film and visual artists whose works examine contemporary social issues and are reflective of a wide variety of cultural traditions.
“La Peña” means “gathering place” in Spanish. In the words of its mission statement, La Peña strives to provide “a multi-use cultural center/community gathering place where people of all races and cultures can share the rich and diverse heritages of the Americas and learn about conditions in the U.S., Latin America and the world.”
La Peña’s origins are closely connected to social activism. The involvement of the American government in a September 1973 Chilean coup that removed then-President Salvador Allende Gossens from power sparked major demonstrations in the Bay Area. After the coup, many Chileans left for the United States. In 1975, a group comprised of recent Chilean immigrants and Bay Area sympathizers founded La Peña as an institution dedicated to showcasing Latin American culture and promoting social change.
La Peña’s mural, “La Canción de la Unidad” (“Song of Unity”), is a cautiously optimistic response to the events that followed the 1973 Chilean coup. It depicts Latin American musicians streaming out of the image of Chilean musician Victor Jara, who was tortured and killed in a Santiago sports stadium as punishment for his opposition to the coup. Painted in 1978, “La Canción de la Unidad” is one of the first acrylic, ceramic and papier-mâché, collective murals in the Bay Area.
Though La Peña was founded in response to a Latin American political situation, the organization welcomes the artistic expression of all marginalized cultures, including the Native American, African American, Eastern European, homosexual, and disabled communities. Paul Chin, the organization’s Executive Director, stresses that while all art presented at La Peña does not have to originate in Latin America, it does have to have “some sort of social agenda.”
La Peña presents more than 150 music, theater, and dance performances each year. In addition, the organization hosts poetry readings, prose readings, lectures, films, and visual art exhibitions. More than 400 community groups have presented cultural and educational programs and fundraising events at La Peña.
La Peña’s restaurant, Café Valparaiso, allows its patrons to experience Latin American cuisine and culture. In addition to serving Latin American food and wine, Café Valparaiso also hosts events such as poetry readings, live Latin American music, and Afro-Cuban rumba percussion dance parties several times a month.
In addition to providing a forum for marginalized cultures and social activism on a regional scale, La Peña works to reach out to the surrounding community. At any given time, the organization hosts as many as five Artists-in-Residence, who teach free music and arts workshops to adults and children. The workshops have included Afro-Cuban percussion, Venezuelan folk music, a cappella singing, Latin American instruments, Latin American New Song ensembles, and batik. The La Peña Community Chorus performs music in English and Spanish at La Peña and at community benefits throughout Northern California. Also, La Peña frequently sponsors or provides facilities for projects of other artist-based groups within the community.
La Peña makes an effort to interact with the local youth population, both by providing a facility for external youth programs and by developing its own youth-focused programming. Youth Speaks, a Bay Area nonprofit committed to promoting proficiency with the written and spoken word among youth, uses La Peña’s facility to offer writing workshops and open mics for young poets. La Peña hosts a monthly hip-hop event known as Collective Soul. The organization also organizes an Artists-in-the-Schools program that sends its Artist-in-Residence musicians into public schools in Berkeley and Oakland for assemblies and workshops at no cost to the schools. In addition, La Peña offers multicultural programs for children on Saturday mornings throughout the school year.
La Peña has an annual budget of approximately 600,000 dollars. About half of that amount is earned income, primarily from admission. The other half is raised from foundations and the state and federal government arts agencies. Chin notes that it is sometimes difficult to maintain the financial stability of the organization without compromising its mission. In particular, he notes that La Peña has consistently rejected donations from corporations that are not socially responsible.
Chin suggests that there are both advantages and disadvantages of La Peña’s Berkeley location. Berkeley is a liberal community with a tradition of social activism and a core of people who have an interest in alternative cultures, so it provides a supportive environment for La Peña’s work. However, the high cost of living in Berkeley, and in the Bay Area as a whole, makes it difficult for people to support themselves while working in the nonprofit sector.
Furthermore, Chin observes that, even in Berkeley, the level of community enthusiasm for La Peña’s cultural offerings follows the upsurges and declines in social activism. He notes that “activism comes in waves.” However, La Peña’s permanent presence ensures that its diverse artists will have a forum for their expression, even during periods of waning social activism.
By facilitating the artistic expression of marginalized communities, social activists, and young people, La Peña builds bridges across cultural, political and generational divides. In this way, La Peña fulfills its mission of providing a gathering place for a diverse community.
For more information on this program: La Peña