Features

Saturday night’s 27th anniversary show for Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center could not come at a more appropriate time. 

The concert marks the reunion of Altazor, the female quartet formed at La Pena in 1987. The four members, Liche Fuentes, (La Pena’s choral director), Jackeline Rago, Dulce Arguelles, and Vanessa Whang, (now the program director for multi-disciplinary arts at the National Endowment for the Arts), emerged out of a Latin-American music class at La Pena and went on as a successful group writing original music with a political edge.  

“Each of them brought the music of their own country,” said La Pena’s Development Director Sylvia Sherman. “At La Pena, a lot of people develop both musically and politically, and Altazor represents the success and empowerment fostered by our programs.” The concert is Saturday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. 

In addition to nightly events, La Pena also offers a variety of free and fee-based courses, from Latin-American dance and guitar, to Afro-Cuban and Afro-Venezuelan musical workshops.  

One particular program La Pena feels strongly about is the Artists-in-the-Schools program, which sends musicians to local schools for assemblies and workshops. 

Citing Josh Jones as an example, La Pena’s latin-jazz and hip-hop teacher, who offers the same classes at Oakland High School, Sherman said, “The program provides a resource that schools otherwise wouldn’t have.” 

The mission of La Pena has always been to promote appreciation and understanding of the arts, while representing the variety of cultural traditions in the community.  

Fernando Torres, Director of Publicity said, “We reflect the population of California. There are a lot of Chicano and Mexican-Americans, and they come here with their music and their culture. We provide a venue, and try to represent, through music and the arts, what is out there, all the different ethnic backgrounds.” 

Saturday’s anniversary show is also a fundraiser for La Pena, which due to the poor economic may soon feel the affects of the State’s budget prioritizing.  

“We want to make an impact on the statewide level, to share with the community how important their support is” said Sherman.  

“We want to make this a public issue,” added Torres 

This specific issue worrying La Pena is the cut suggested by the Department of Finance in their May revision, which would force the California Arts Council (CAC) to take a 57% cut to their $29 million grants and operations budget.  

If passed, the budget, which is currently in conference committee, would cut $68,800 from La Pena’s budget, and have a direct affect on similar venues which rely heavily on grant money from the Arts Council. 

“Our grantees will absolutely get less money,” said Adam Gottlieb of the California Arts Council.  

Explaining the source of the problems, Gottlieb said, “Governor Davis has been very supportive of the arts. It’s the overall downturn in the economy that is hurting everyone.” He added on a more hopeful note, “California’s investment in the arts is strong, hopefully we will survive this crisis.” 

Al Maitland, CEO of the California Association of Local Arts Agencies stressed the importance of government funding for groups like La Pena. “With the proposed cuts in organizational support, for groups right in La Pena’s range it’s a real threat.”  

La Pena urges people to take advantage of their classes and events and lend support to the multi-cultural arts during this time of threatening budget cuts. 

“We’re a great resource center” Torres said.