PROGRAMS - Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts

Mestizo Institute of Cultural & Arts hosts on-going youth programs, cultural events, workshops, community meetings, exhibits, lectures, open-mics, art classes, and more. This organization strives to be a catalyst for positive investment in underserved neighborhoods. We invite our community to claim the space that we provide through the coffeehouse/gallery as their own through community-driven programming. The programming is relevant to the issues and concerns community members, youth, face in everyday life. The primary programs include:

Mestizo Arts & Activism (MAA)

Mestizo Arts & Activism (MAA) is a youth leadership, research, and education program supporting the development of young people growing up on the West Side of Salt Lake City as catalysts of change through leadership, the arts, and active civic engagement. Twenty high school students who live on Salt Lake City's Westside are participating in the program that meets twice a week after school. As part of the program the youth participants develop action research projects based on their personal and communal concerns. The Mestizo Arts & Activism program draws upon the assets of the diverse communities of the West Side, engaging the resources of community partners the West Side Leadership Institute of University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) & NeighborWorks Salt Lake (NWS).

Muralism

Muralism is an apprentice program that provides cohorts of young people an opportunity to engage the community by assisting the In-house Artist in leading focus groups, and then helping implement a design and painting in a public space. Cohorts of young people are selected through an application and interview process. By participating in this program, they visit the University campus for tours, the Utah Fine arts museum, galleries, and listen to guest speakers including artists, professors, and college counselors who speak to them on how to access higher education and/or advance an art career. They also take workshops on resume writing and bios in order to have preparedness in applying for scholarships.

Mestizo Emerging Artists

This mentorship program provides young emerging artists one-on-one training, with the In-house Artist, that helps build a sense of community through arts, civic engagement, and dialogue. Participants are guided in the exploration of various creative projects and activities that are related to their everyday contexts and they are encouraged to learn about the role of artist as public citizens. The program equips emerging artists with an array of skills and art literacy that they can use professionally.

Currently, among these emerging artists is Brittney Flores, age 19. As she puts it, Brittney paints so that others will experience "the feeling of 'what if...'" and has began to discover that even "the simplest things are life changing." Inspired by the legacies of César Chávez and others, Brittney believes that "those who push their hardest to achieve happiness for others become immortal and live on through the lives of the ones they touch."

Open Mic

Open mic is a weekly series that provides a space and place for people across generations to voice their life passion and social issues through spoken word and music. Every Monday evening we open the gallery for open-mic music and every Wednesday evening we open the gallery for open-mic poetry. The group of regular participants serves as a supportive group for poets, musicians, and aficionados to get together and perform collectively through a shared enthusiasm. From time to time, we bring both locally and nationally recognized poets and musicians to perform and conduct workshops that support this program as a positive alternative outlet.

Upcoming Programs

Lowrider Car Model and bicycle workshops

This Lowrider Car Model and bicycle workshop, in collaboration with the SLC Brown Berets, taught young people, including children, how to create models and also to learn about lowrider car culture as an important aspect of Chicano culture in the United States. The young people were taught and they learned how to create model cars from scratch. Each car was then painted with art and functioned as miniature lowriders, some of which had actual hydraulics for effect. In the future we plan to exhibit the model cars created by these young people for the public to enjoy and learn about the art of lowrider model cars and lowrider car culture as an important aspect of chicana/o culture in the U.S.

Digital-based Testimonios Workshops

This digital storytelling project, entitled Testimonios: Latina and Chicana, consisted of workshops led by University students and faculty who worked closely with high-school students living on the Westside, to create their own digitial testimonios based on life stories and experiences. With the support of the University faculty, Mestizo Institute of Culture & Arts intends to turn their short-term program into a long-term community-based program that continues to educate youth in digital media while documenting their lives and experiences.

Key Staff

Key staff include: In-house Artist Ruby Chacon, Faculty David Quijada, Faculty Matt Bradley, among others.