Castro helps fund inclusive arts curriculum
The artists gathered in Centro Cultural Aztlán last week were part of its 46th annual Segundo de Febrero exhibit, an event that commemorated the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
It ended the U.s.-mexican War but was subsequently broken, like other treaties the country failed to keep to its indigenous populations.
The war, the treaty, the takeover of land led to so many losses for Mexican Americans, the bicultural population that arose from these events.
They still reverberate, and the art in the Fredericksburg Road gallery spoke to that impact.
For the artists — many of whose careers date back to the illustrious, oft-missed Gallista Gallery — it was also a reunion.
When U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, 48, walked in, they gave him a bienvenida.
None yet knew that he would soon undergo surgery at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for the removal of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors.
His office said Thursday that his prognosis is good and he’s expected back in San Antonio next week to recuperate for several weeks.
Castro’s visit to Centro celebrated the longtime arts organization’s work in the community and in schools — and a federal funding award Castro secured for the nonprofit arts organization.
In the wider scope of congressional spending, a $95,000 community project award is small but mighty.
It’s also part of Castro’s national work to broaden the U.S. and Texas narratives to include the history of Mexican Americans, Chicanos and Latinos.
Centro was among 15 recipients of the funding program that replaced congressional “earmarks,” which were eliminated because of abuse.
Castro has received approval for $26 million in individual awards to wide-ranging projects in fiscal years 2023 and 2022.
Centro’s allotment for FY 2023 will pay for creation, publication and distribution of a Chicano arts curriculum for K-12 students. An impressive cadre of artists, historians, folklorists, cultural experts and educators will be involved.
Some of the artists are art instructors in San Antonio public schools and in higher education. Several are also published book authors, illustrators and poets.
The funding will help continue Centro’s Superheroes in the Schools program, which has exposed students in 25 local schools to Mexican American and Chicano art and history. The schools are in various districts, including San Antonio, Edgewood, Northside and Northeast.
In existence for more than 30 years, “Superheroes” has allowed K-12 students to create and display artwork that’s professionally exhibited. These Centro events have included the young artists’ parents, peers and teachers, said executive director Malena González-cid.
She noted the lack of diversity in mainstream K-12 educational resources and Centro’s long history of working with educators to provide Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills-aligned arts education, including field trips, workshops and the Superheroes program.
The curriculum will draw from art, culture, traditions and key moments in Chicano and Mexican American history.
It all fits into Castro’s work as a national champion of inclusion in book publishing, media and Hollywood. Over several years, he has hammered those industries for their lack of Latino representation.
Castro has lambasted the publishing industry for not having “a basic understanding” of Latinos and failing “to tell the full story of our country.”
He has been critical of the film, TV and news media industries for their employment records and lack of significant progress in recruiting, hiring and retaining Latinos.
His essay in Variety encapsulated his work. “Latinos love Hollywood,” the headline said, “but Hollywood hates Latinos.”
Castro received a multitude of community project funding requests representing education, infrastructure, economic development and healthcare. Some of those received funding for specific projects as well.
“But I wanted to make sure that we didn’t overlook something that I believe is fundamental to our city and to our community,” he said, to ensure “the story of Latinos and Mexican Americans is told in our city, our state and our country.”
Chicano scholar David Montejano attended what was also a proverbial giant check presentation.
The San Antonian, a retired professor at the University of California-berkeley, may have told the most important forgotten stories of Chicanos and Mexican Americans in two seminal books, “Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986” and “Quixote’s Soldiers: A Local History of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981 .”
Montejano saw the show and said it reminded us “that we’ve been here for a while, that we belong. That’s really what’s going on.”