Latinx Culture in Dallas

Find the Latino Cultural Center inside a brightly painted building on the east end of Downtown Dallas near Deep Ellum. The center, founded in 1993 with the purpose of promoting the Latino and Hispanic art scene in Dallas, contains a diverse collection of painted works and sculptures and is a beacon for local Latino artists to display their work. Enjoy live performances from local organizations or take a look at their robust events calendar for salsa dance lessons, children's educational programs and holiday festivities.

Cara Mía Theatre inspires and engages people to uplift their communities through transformative Latinx theatre, multicultural youth arts experiences and community action. In 1996, Eliberto Gonzalez co-founded Cara Mía Theatre because he believed that Chicano literature and its writers should be more accessible to the general public. Since its founding, the cultural breadth of Cara Mía Theatre's plays have expanded to include all Latinx people living in the United States. Now it it's 25th season, Cara Mía Theatre has grown into the largest Latinx theatre in Texas and the four surrounding states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

The Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folkorico (ANMBF) is considered the largest folkorico company in the United States and has been a pioneer in the Dallas Hispanic arts and educational community. The center was founded in 1975 with a mission to introduce a sense of Latino pride through the study of traditional Mexican dance forms. Enjoy ANMBF productions at legendary Dallas performing arts venues like Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, the Dallas Theatre Center, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Majestic Theatre, the Wyly Theatre and the Winspear Opera House.

As a growing number of visitors and locals enjoy new development in South Dallas, the historical significance of Jefferson Boulevard – Oak Cliff's main street and the oldest shopping strip in Dallas – still shines. The area is home to places like Mercado369, a gallery focused on showcasing the works of Latin American creators, the Texas Theatre and the Oak Cliff Cultural Center. 

The center, previously housed in the Ice House Cultural Center a few blocks away, joined the Jefferson Boulevard roster in 2010. The art gallery and community center offers workshops, art and dance classes and festivals throughout the year.  

The Dallas Museum of Art began exhibiting works by modern Latin American artists in 1933 and acquired the first work, a lithograph by Roberto Montenegro, in 1941. Since that time, the DMA has presented 45 exhibitions, the most recent being Fine Lands (2018) and México 1900–1950 (2017), which became the Museum's second highest attended special paid exhibition in a decade. In addition, the DMA has acquired since 1941 over 400 works of Latin American art, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and textiles beyond the pre-Colombian, viceregal, and contemporary collections.