Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center

Danza de los Copetones, a traditional dance of Jalisco, Mexico.

Photo: Armando Quintero

Within the walls of its humble storefront in San Pablo, California, is a unique and proud group of master artists and their young students exploring the traditional arts of Mexico. This exploration, in turn, has formed the basis for a growing community institution, Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center (LCMAC), dedicated to preserving Mexican folk traditions and reconnecting young people with their cultural roots.

The centerpiece of Los Cenzontles is its Community Heritage Project, which promotes cultural traditions as a living means of self- and community expression. The arts academy component provides young people with 44 free or low-cost classes per week in authentic Mexican music and dance, taught by local masters who use a traditional experiential teaching style.

The center also reaches out into the community, presenting a series of annual multigenerational cultural events, such as celebrations of Día de las Madres (Mother’s Day) and the Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). “These events bring together our students, their families, friends and neighbors, strengthening ties between the generations and dispelling the alienation that is often felt in communities,” explains Eugene Rodriguez, LCMAC’s executive director.

The center also shares Mexican folk traditions with audiences—many of them school children—across the U.S. and Mexico through its acclaimed dance and music ensemble, Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds). This troupe of singers, instrumentalists, and dancers, ages 12-23, is a source of community pride and provides a powerful and attractive peer-group for teens.

Youth also gain valuable leadership skills at the art center. Through a mentoring program, young people are involved at all levels of the organization and groomed to help run the center. The participants are trained to become teachers, technicians, arts administrators, and peer mentors. Many go on to work in part-time paying jobs at LCMAC.

These varied efforts all are aimed at one overarching goal: “To foster an environment where young people have a renewed stake both in their own development as individuals and in the well-being of the community,” Rodriguez concludes.