User:Fightforsocialjustice/National Center of Latino Arts and Culture

The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) is a Texas based non-profit dedicated to the advancement of Latino arts and culture. It’s currently the United States leading arts organization dedicated exclusively towards the promotion of Latino art and artists in the United States and Latin America.

History
NALAC was founded in 1989 when a group of prominent Latino artists from various artistic disciplines and walks of life got together in order to change the fact that despite there being many talented artists within the Latino community there is not a single organization dedicated to advocating on their behalf and providing seed money through grants to help them succeed and be more representative within the artistic world. During the first few years the NALAC reached out to Latino artists and provided them with a network of support but they found themselves struggling and without clear direction.

All this changed when the NALAC board of directors appointed Maria De Leon as executive director. Maria was a woman who has earned a reputation as "nation’s Fifty Most Powerful and Influential People in the Nonprofit Arts” and served on the National Council of the Arts under former president Barrack Obama. Maria being a long time volunteer with NALAC Maria saw first hand the creative talent of many of the Latino artists NALAC worked with she also realized that many of the artists had great ideas but lacked the funds to cultivate those ideas into reality. Maria utilized her network within the art world to raise money and create NALAC first grant program, NALAC Fund for the Arts. The Fund for the Arts allowed individuals project to be brought to life but it was not sustainable for it only provided funding for single projects and most artists had trouble marketing themselves or their work. Recognizing that this is a common problem with in the artistic and creative community NALAC began to collaborate with people from the business side of the art world in order to create the Leadership Institute.

Today NALAC is the nations leading Latino art organization and only art organization supporting over 900 artists and art based organizations annually. Since its founding in 1989 NALAC has provided over 2.3 million dollars in grant money in support of over 185,000 Latino artists and art based organizations throughout the United States and Latin America.

Leadership Institute
Created in the early 90s The Leadership Institute Is a culturally rooted program that looks to develop leaders by selecting promising latino artists and not only providing the environment and resources where an artist can cultivate their artistic skills and swap ideas and collaborate with other artists. But recognizing that for an artist to be successful they need to network and learn the business and administrative side of the art world as well. The Leadership institute has facilitated by such teachers as Dr. Maribel Alvarez and Abel Lopez and helped develop the career of such artists as Lia Uribe.

Transnational Cultural Remittances Grant Program
Created in 2008 and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Ford Foundation, and The Andrew Mellon Foundation  a way for both individuals and community groups to utilize art as a means of cultural exchange between the United States, Mexico and Central America.

Visiones
Produced by Galan productions and Nalac Visiones is a six part documentary series that brings to you on a trip across the United States to show off the creative talent of Latino artists from all walks of life. The documentary was presented on PBS and went on to win the Imagen award. The series along with its accompanying education curriculum is an education tool created to expose student to Latino arts and cultutre it has been disttributed to more than 35,000 schools.