It took 13 years and navigating multiple obstacles but the Mexican-American Cultural Center approved by El Paso voters in 2012 is now open. An enthusiastic crowd turned out Saturday for the grand opening festivities that included music, dance, food and a sample of the arts that the MACC will showcase.
The $15 million center is designed to preserve a variety of border cultures and traditions. “This cultural center is not just a building,” District 8 Representative Chris Canales told the crowd.
“It's a promise to all of the Mexican-Americans, the Chicanos, the fronterizas, the El Pasoans who have lived and sometimes suffered the history this institution seeks to preserve and the culture it seeks to pass on,” he said.
Canales was among city leaders and others who spoke at Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. He thanked the previous city council members who worked to make the MACC a reality.
“It's also a promise to future generations of El Pasoans who will come here to learn and to experience, but also to add to what's inside the building,” Canales said.
Inside the walls are covered with art of all kinds. There’s also a tasting kitchen, a dance studio for classes and a recording studio for music and capturing oral histories. People of all ages flocked to the three-story, 41,000 square-foot facility, to get a first glimpse of the long-awaited center.
Native El Pasoans Cecilia Schroder and her daughter Melissa Rodarte live in Ohio attended the celebration to reconnect with their hometown roots and traditions.
“I miss it. I tremendously miss it,” Schroder said.
Rodarte said the family moved to Ohio when she was 13. “People didn't know where we were from, we were constantly questioned, ‘What are you? Where are you from? Are,you from Mexico?’ We were not. We're from El Paso,” she said.
Rodarte was excited to see the events the Mexican-American Culture Center will spotlight. “Growing up where there is absolutely no representation, it really changes your perspective and makes you really appreciate things like this much more than you would've ever imagined.”
The celebration included a blessing from the Grey Wolf Warrior Society along with a traditional indigenous dance ceremony from Danza Azteca Cuitlahuac.
Director Rebecca Muñoz said it’s important to acknowledge the contributions of indigenous people in the El Paso borderland region.
“I'd like to recognize that the MACC is on the indigenous lands, and as a MACC staff works to celebrate and honor El Paso's Mexican American cultural heritage is important and central to our work to recognize all the indigenous peoples of this region whose stories are a part of our collective histories,” Muñoz said.
El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said he expects the MACC to attract tourists and other visitors to the growing downtown arts district where the center will serve as an “economic engine” for El Paso.
“Cultural institutions like this attract tourism, support local business, and generate opportunities for artists, performers, educators, and entrepreneurs,” Johnson said.
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