With support from the California Arts Council, TIERRA CALIENTE ACADEMY OF ARTS will have the capacity to strengthen North San Diego County’s underserved Latino community with four unique arts education programs for over 1,800 Latino students and produce Latino focused performing arts shows for more than 11,000 Latino patrons.
TCAA has established ongoing projects such as Day of the Dead festival, Ticitozaa Folklorico Festival, Mexihco Performing Arts Production, De Colores Youth Dance Production, Puppet Shows in Spanish for children, and other meaningful arts and cultural offerings. Two TCAA’s most impactful programs are its Ticitozaa Folklorico Dance Festival and its De Colores Youth Development Program.
TCAA’s Ticitozaa Folklorico Dance Festival is a cultural production that features two performances at The California Center for the Arts, Escondido. The Festival is comprised of a youth show with performing youth groups (ages 8-15 years old) and a second show that features Adults (ages 16+). The productions are separated purposely so that the adults can appreciate and support the next generation and the youth can see the adults as role models in the performing arts.
TCAA’s “De Colores Youth Development Program” is teaching K-12 children about the importance of identity, both as individuals and as a community. With each generation, cultural knowledge and appreciation is harder for children to grasp and understand if not exposed to it during their formative years. In today’s diverse Southern California community, the notion of identity is essential for understanding matters concerning the integration and socialization of children with Latinx roots. Annually, the program provides 50 Latinx youth with a stronger awareness of where they come from and who they are through the visual and performing arts. TCAA’s “De Colores Youth Development Program” consists of five months of weekly youth cultural education and training including visual and performing arts classes culminating in a community production performed by the youth participants. This program equips underserved Latinx children with the training and confidence to perform a visual and performing arts event that tells the history of Mexico on stage through music and dance while adding the magical component of the theater.

