For the last several years, North Carolina has had one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the country, and Charlotte is at the center of that growth.  The city’s cultural community is responding to make sure the Hispanic experience is celebrated and honored through artistic expressions and made available to all residents.  I’ve noticed the response, and we’re all enriched by it. The theater community has been a major participant. This summer, Carolina Actors Studio Theatre produced Real Women Have Curves (including a performance in Spanish). In 2009, Charlotte’s Off Broadway produced Living Out. Next month, the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center will offer audiences In the Heights.’ For many years, the Mint Museum has sponsored an annual Latin American festival at its Randolph Road location. Since 2004, the public library has sponsored Con A de Arte, a celebration of Hispanic  culture and artistic expression. Last year, the library was joined by the Arts and Science Council (ASC). the McColl Center for Visual Arts, the Mint Museum and the Blumenthal Performing Arts Education Institute.

Now other mainstream institutions are stepping forward in new and innovative ways. I just learned that the ASC, in collaboration with the Latin American Coalition (LAC) and several other groups, is developing a community initiative to support, connect and train local Latino artist in all mediums.

The Levine Museum of the New South has included a presentation about an important 1946 court case affecting Hispanics in California as part of its current exhibit, “COURAGE: The Carolina Story that Changed America.” It will run until January 2012.

“Para Todos los Niños: Fighting Segregation Before Brown v. Board” is about Mendez v. Westminster School District, the U.S. Court of Appeals case that ended segregated schools for Mexican-Americans in Orange County. Janet Margulia, president of the National Council of La Raza, praised the Levine for adding the exhibit when she was recently in Charlotte for a panel discussion I attended that was sponsored by the museum.

The Levine offers a number of programs and exhibits that explore Charlotte’s growing diversity, including its award winning “Changing Places.”

Arts Si!, spearheaded by the ASC, is another kind of outreach effort.  To help empower local Latino artists, the group was founded in 2009, and some 150 artists receive its e-mails and attend its events.  The next networking and socializing event is Friday, Jan. 28, at the Havana Social Club in Cornelius from 7 to 9 p.m.

Says Tony Arreaza, who coordinates cultural events for the LAC, “We want to help our artists become more professional. For example, there are some amazing musicians out there, but they have no website or means to get bookings.  The networking should help a lot.”

www.museumofthenewsouth.org

www.latinamericancoalition.org