With support from the California Arts Council, MACLA will engage at-promise and underserved youth in hands-on learning and prosocial development activities as they acquire digital media skills, use creativity, and advance their voice in a safe space with caring Latinx mentors.
MACLA produces approximately 50 programs in three core program tracks: Visual arts, performance and literary arts, and youth arts digital media education. Because all MACLA programs remain loyal to our mission and to our roots as an organization founded by artists/activists committed to using the arts as a catalyst for social change, community development through the arts is the overarching philosophy that informs all our programming decisions.
MACLA offers four major visual contemporary arts exhibitions annually focused on a pan-Latinx aesthetic. We commission new work in the visual and performing arts, often in collaboration with our national peers. Our monthly performances feature the best music and dance of the Latinx diaspora in the Bay Area. In partnership with the National Performance Network, we offer week long residencies with touring artists that includes community engagement, artist workshops and public performances. We also develop public art projects, present literary artists, engage in neighborhood celebrations, and program stages at other community events. We offer year-round digital media workshops for teens and creative cultural experiences for adults, employ artists, and collaborate with a wide range of partners on local and national initiatives.
We are located in downtown San Jose, California, support local, regional and national artists. We collaborate with our peers, often to share resources and co-commission, incubate, present and tour new work by Latinx artists. We partner with peers to advance the multicultural arts sector and advocate for racial justice and cultural equity through the arts.

