Future, funding still up in air for troubled Latino arts center
Temporary managers say ‘confusing signals’ coming from the city
Talento Bilingue de Houston, the cultural center that shut down amid accusations of mismanagement and financial troubles, could be getting another shot at life after city and community leaders tapped a Latino arts group to help resurrect the East End facility.
However, the leadership of the arts group, known as MECA, and other Latino arts supporters are concerned that the organization’s temporary oversight of Talento Bilingue faces an uphill battle over funding and the center’s direction.
MECA has agreed to oversee the management and programming at the Talento Bilingue facility, which has focused on performing arts, presenting plays ranging from classics to original works with Latino twists. It has also served as a venue for local readings and workshops, including programs of Nuestra Palabra:
Latino Writers Having Their Say. The facility is named after a 42year-old organization that closed in September since losing its nonprofit status for failing to file federal reports to the Internal Revenue Service for three consecutive years. The 10,000-square-foot building, adjacent to Guadalupe Plaza Park, is owned by the city of Houston and includes a 230-seat theater.
The arrangement followed a request by Latino artists and community leaders asking the city to keep
the facility open and maintain its ties to the Latino community. After several meetings among the community, Mayor Sylvester Turner and his Hispanic Advisory Board, it was determined that the facility should continue operating with a temporary program overseen by someone trusted within the Latino community while still identifying a long-term plan, said Debbie McNulty, director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
MECA, Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts, fits the bill, at least for now.
David Contreras, a volunteer Hispanic adviser and retired banker, advocated for MECA, saying, “There is no other Latino institution in Houston with their track record (of ) running a cultural and educational center of their kind.”
Alice Valdez, the organization’s executive director, said they are “excited” with its new mission and the “opportunity to expand most of what we have been doing for many years to another place.”
Valdez is concerned, however, for what she sees as “confusing signals” from the city of Houston that could impact her ability to raise needed funds to implement the Talento Bilingue programming.
Valdez said that MECA was under the impression that it would become the long-term managers if it demonstrates during the transition period that it can run the facility by offering programs similar to what it provides at its center in Old Sixth Ward. It had hoped the East End facility would serve as a branch location and is already calling the site MECA @TBH.
But a survey the city is distributing worries Valdez. Its purpose, to gather input to shape the future of Talento Bilingue, has been “a surprise,” suggesting that MECA’s role in rebuilding the program is not as solid as she believed, she said.
The survey, which is available on the Facebook page of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs until the beginning of January, asks seven questions, including multiple choices to select the types of programs the participants find “most compelling” for the future of the East End facility. In its introduction, the survey says that “multiple factors will be considered when determining the future operator.”
“We thought that was what our meetings (with the city) were all about,” Valdez said. “We thought we had their full support.”
McNulty said the temporary management was “something unique” and was suggested after community leaders asked for no disruption and to maintain access to the facility.
She also said all the parties agreed to have a transitional period, estimated to last four months. She said she plans to have the survey results by late January, present them in a public setting and define the scope and structure of the facility by February.
“We don’t want to rule anything out at this point,” McNulty said. She said her office wants to consult with not only immediate stakeholders such as artists but also management districts, chambers and others that could potentially become partners.
“We need to conduct (this process) with financial stewardship and transparency,” McNulty said.
The finances are precisely one of the main concerns of MECA in light of the survey, Valdez said. She stressed that MECA is grateful for the $80,000 the city provided, but it isn’t enough to fund the Talento Bilingue programming.
The survey doesn’t help matters, Valdez said.
It has “effectively stripped the institution of its ability to raise programming funds,” she said. “We need some guarantee of permanence because it’s not easy to raise funding if you are not sure you are going to be there” in three months.
For now, MECA @TBH plans include an afterschool arts education lineup of piano, violin, voice, visual arts, ballet and hip-hop classes starting in January.
Another goal is reinstating the in-house production of plays and performances, keeping in line with the original art specialty that gave birth to Talento Bilingue with its founder, Richard Reyes.
Reyes, who has been hired as the facility’s director, is most known in Houston for the character of Pancho Claus. Every year since 1981, he raises money for an annual Christmas Eve party that provides food and toys for disadvantaged children.
Reyes, too, has concerns about the survey.
“We’re like in a ‘damned if you do it, damned if you don’t’ situation,” Reyes said. “You cannot ask for money because you don’t know if you are going to be here, but yet we are supposed to continue with a viable program, but you don’t have enough money to run it.”
McNulty acknowledged MECA’s commitment to the transition.
“From what I understand, they are very conscientious and responsible,” she said. “At this point, there’s nothing that would exclude MECA from putting their hat in the ring (for the long term at TBH). … It’s something I think their board is weighing. I just don’t want to make it seem for other parties that it is a guarantee, because that wouldn’t be an honest process.”
Valdez said MECA’s board has already discussed it.
“We are ready for the long run,” she said.