The Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts held the first of a series of monthly meetings Wednesday night seeking community input on a thorny issue: How the 48-year-old cultural institution can survive when its budget has cratered and it has lost nearly all its staff.
For two hours, Mission Cultural Center Executive Director Martina Ayala, artists, community members and teachers gathered at the center to brainstorm support for the nonprofit, which laid off the majority of its staff in December.
For the last two years, the Mission Cultural Center has survived on about $760,000 annually from the city, and whatever Ayala can fundraise personally. According to its latest federal tax form 990, the nonprofit raised $1.6 million in its 2022 fiscal year. Like many arts organizations in the city, the center has seen fewer paid visitors since the pandemic.
“Art is how a community sees itself in its struggle for liberation,” said Ayala, quoting artist Eugene Rodriguez, “and there’s a space where this happens in the Mission District … This is why we need to re-envision MCCLA as a self-sufficient and self-determining organization.”
The center typically serves between 10,000 and 20,000 people a month through events, free and low-cost classes, six low-cost summer camps and dozens of community events. But, with most of its staff gone, Ayala is now running it with one full-time and two part-time staff members.
“You would think, after 48 years, that this would be a multi-million-dollar organization,” Ayala said in an interview in January. Although getting payments from the city has sometimes been frustrating, Ayala said, “The city does their part, but we’re going to do our part too.”
“I think that we became too dependent on the city. I think it is absolutely necessary for us to find a solution, a different model, and move away from city dependency,” she added.
In addition to its operation grant, the cultural center gets its home from the city nearly for free, paying $1 a year to lease it. But the center is scheduled to move out sometime in the near future so that the building can be renovated, and it is facing the prospect of paying market-rate commercial rents.
Ayala’s appeal to the 20 residents who attended the meeting was to move on from the recent layoffs and to unite in finding solutions that decrease the center’s dependence on the city.
Each monthly meeting will pose a question attendees will respond to in breakout groups. Wednesday night’s question? How to keep classes low-cost for the community and pay teachers without city help.
Two groups were formed, one in Spanish and one in English, and the ideas came quickly: Street performances to grab the attention of those who don’t know of the center, a Hollywood stars-like passageway for donors, a day-long festival featuring different art forms on each floor, community crowdfunding, more digital advertising, and reaching out to big Mission names, like Carlos Santana, to perform in a benefit concert for the center.
A student of a theater class at the center, Maria, shared her experience performing on the streets back home in Mexico. She called for the center to bring more art to the community to gain visibility.
“We could bring the art to the people. Let’s go sing to little kids and at senior centers,” said Maria, to nods and smiles.
Arturo Mendez, a recipient of an arts impact endowment from the Arts Commission, offered to bring a group of artists together to organize events at the center to encourage the community to see new art and support the space.
At the end of the night, Ayala thanked all the attendees, and reminded everyone of the importance of the center for the Mission District and the city as a whole.
“We came up with a lot of solutions that are not dependent on the city and the government, things that we can do, and if this works, we can create a model that is long-term,” said Ayala.
Berta Hernandez, a teacher at the center who led one group, added: “This center has been a very important part of my life. We can’t lose this center. We can’t have life without art. … It’s impossible.”
I love MCC but they DO NOT bring in 10-20k visitors a month, those numbers are cooked. I think the administration of MCC has to take some responsibility and ask themselves why , with free rent, grants, etcetera, they are unable to function as a legitimate arts organization for the city and mission districts residents.
Maybe they recently once did and that’s the selling point.
i am shocked it is coming down to this situation ; 48 years in business and still not able to stand on their own? with no rent, money from the city, fundraising? It is probably an organization that did not invest properly, that did not budget properly, that spend money they did not have or organize too many events. The good times are over, and things will get much worse with the new administration. Grants will be a thing of the past and with the spineless democrats, don’t expect a change. On another note, where is Nancy Pelosi lately? she is on a trip or what? nowhere in sight since the king is in power. Scared? busy dealing Nvidia stocks? please let us know.
I live close to MCC and this is the first time I’ve read of this. Please list when the next meeting takes place, there should be a strong outpouring of not only the Mission but all those who have visited the cultural center for their classes, seminars, and entertainment programs
I’ve been in the Mission for 44 years and have no need for the Mission Cultural Center. I liberated myself, which is the only sustainable way to ‘liberate’ yourself. If you have to depend on others, you are never liberated, you are a dependent.
Que facil ahora olvidarse de los despedidos cuando se tiene trabajo u como pagar tus utilidades,
Where are the opulent local Billionaires who love to flaunt their wealth in shows of purported goodwill to the community that they totally aren’t interested in gentrifying TF out of town?
Or are they only interested if they can call it the “Zuckerberg Cultural Center”?