- December 31, 2024
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CreArte Latino Cultural Center started as a Spanish-language theater troupe in 2012, gaining its first space and becoming a nonprofit in late 2017.
Its growth led to the grand opening of a new space, at Northgate Blvd., on Dec. 9, and founder and artistic director Carolina Franco said the organization is poised to move into the new year.
"It was a very interesting year, obviously, lots of challenges, and we were, let's say, on a pause when it comes to a space, so having a space, being able to open it to everybody, and seeing everyone who's been so important for our mission and our growth, it's just priceless," she said of the grand opening.
The only area organization offering arts in Spanish, CreArte Latino Cultural Center is intended to serve as a bilingual cultural exchange channel between the Latino and Hispanic community, and the community at large, through the arts, service and education.
"There are tens of thousands of native Spanish speakers in this community, and then there are many thousands of people who admire the Latino community, are curious and want to learn more, love the cultural aspects, whether it's the food or the theater or the music," Franco said.
A major advantage of the new space, which is positioned near the border of Sarasota county, is "definitely" visibility, Franco said.
The previous location had been in southern Manatee County, near the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
CreArte President Clara Villanueva said in that space, the nonprofit had not been able to come to an agreement with the county regarding fire codes, which limited occupancy to 50 people.
"This location is wonderful," she said. "First of all, from a fire code standpoint, we can have over double the people that we could have before."
Franco notes the space is highly convertible, preferring curtains over walls to accommodate different functions.
"It is a bit smaller than our previous space, but again, it's giving us more opportunities, but we also have a feeling we're going to outgrow it kind of quick, which is a good problem," she said.
The programming on offer includes theater productions, book clubs, classes, workshops and collaborations with artists, with "as many as possible" in Spanish, but with English subtitles.
Three weeks prior to the grand opening, the center launched its offerings with "Voces de inmigración," a testimonial theater performance involving local Latino people sharing their experiences with immigration.
"Sometimes we have it set up for theater," Franco said. "Sometimes we have it set up for a family event or a painting event, and we are super happy because we're still very close to the to the boundary line, so we're still able to serve Manatee and Sarasota County, because that was always very important for us not to go too south or too north."
She notes the art on display reflects many aspects of the Latino community.
"We represent so many cultures," Franco said. "It's not one country, right? It's not Colombia, Mexico, it's all of South America, Spain. We cover a lot. Lots of flavors. Lots of colors."
Eddy Ossa, who studied arts in Colombia and whose career has involved street theater and dancing performances, has found a home at CreArte.
"It's the best place for me, because it's my life," he said.
Franco said one example of what such a space can accomplish is helping offer kids a sense of pride in their heritage.
"Kids from Hispanic families, some of them, at times, feel ashamed, and they're not proud of saying, I speak English, I'm Hispanic," she said.
She said she been in situations where kids have told her they do not speak Spanish, only for her to see them translating for their parents.
"We want to make sure... that they know their being bilingual. We always say it's a superpower, and that they're proud and connected to their roots," she said.
Franco said the organization tries to look out for the interests it sees in the community.
For instance, it began offering lessons to team members who did not speak English, and also offering lessons to the community at large after seeing that it was interested in learning Spanish.
Over time, the largely volunteer-based organization has grown in its impact in other ways than just the space.
A recent grant from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation allowed Franco to receive a salary, which Villanueva said "frees her up to be able to do many other things that only she can do for us."
Its latest activity is resource sharing, which involves sharing resources from other nonprofits in Spanish, with the Latino community.
Franco said she's looking forward to the future, with more events planned for 2025 than the previous year.
"New year, new start," she said. "As I said, this year was weird, and because of that, we didn't have a lot of events planned because we were not sure what was going to happen, so definitely, starting the year is when we're going to be back in action."
