Phoenix voters approved $500 million in 2023 under the General Obligation Bond Program, including $21.4 million for a long-awaited Latino Cultural Center . That came after a 2001 effort that resulted in $1 to renovate Museo Chicano. But when the museum closed its doors in 2008, the city held on to those funds, hoping to invest in a larger-scale project. Yet, investment in honoring the city’s Latin heritage remains stalled after nearly 24 years, raising questions about its future and impact.
Back to the Drawing Board
No updates were shared until 2016, when the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture hired a consultant to gather feedback. In the 2017 Capital Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study, survey participants called for a space that celebrated Latino history through art and creative programming.
Senior Community Impact Officer at Arizona Community Foundation and advocate Adam Lopez Falk expressed concerns over the project’s progress.
“I have a lot of feelings about the way it's been managed because the city has gone to national people to do surveys,” Lopez Falk said.
He also questioned the makeup of the committees involved in the planning process.
“It’s been made up of people that are either well connected or people that I’m like, ‘Why are they even included in this conversation? They’re not Latino,’” he added.
The Ad Hoc Committee that was formed to advise the City Council last met in 2020, issuing final recommendations that prioritized finding a location as a primary step.
Mitch Menchaca , director of the city’s office of arts and culture, said Phoenix is “trying to find ways to really keep it alive and get shovels in the ground so that it’s not the 26-year-old project that keeps on going.” Due to the prioritization of other projects under the GO Bond Program, the city hopes to find a permanent location for the center this year.
Though the project’s momentum has been cyclical, community members are working toward keeping it alive – especially at a time when community-centered spaces that foster empowerment and belonging are vital for Latinos in Arizona.
Through the Advocate’s Lens
Growing up in the Chicano arts movement in the 1990s, Adam Lopez Falk recalls early conversations about the lack of support for Latino artists in Phoenix. He emphasized the long-standing roots of Latino cultural initiatives and how Latino identity has evolved over time.
“We’re trying so hard to be perfect in trying to do it well, and every day we wait, Latinidad in Phoenix changes,” Lopez Falk said. “Our community deserves a place to celebrate and reflect on our culture as a people.”
With Latinos making up approximately 41.1% of the population in Phoenix, any cultural center must reflect the current realities of the community — not just the vision imagined decades ago.
“If we could have a place like this, it allows our community to come together but also to invite other communities to understand who we are and to engage and celebrate with us as a people,” Lopez Falk said.
Stephanie Roman, Executive Director at CALA Alliance, echoed that a dedicated center could strengthen the Latino population.
“It really does have the potential to bring us together as a vehicle and a tool to support the existing institutions that are operating to be able to survive these challenging times,” she said.
As community members work to keep the project alive, they’re calling not only on city leaders to take long-overdue action, but also on residents to campaign the project forward.
Roman noted that while the center could be beneficial, there has been a lack of grassroots pressure. “As much as it could be helpful, I haven’t seen us, as residents, also push for it.”
Despite the delays, the promise of a Latino Cultural Center will require council members and advocates to take action and create a space that truly reflects Latino culture and history in Phoenix.