HOUSTON – A new organization is working to change the landscape of Hispanic and Latino arts and culture in the Houston community.
ALMAAHH, which stands for Advocates of a Latino Museum of Cultural and Visual Arts and Archive Complex in Houston-Harris County, is looking to create a one-stop shop for arts and culture.
For Michele Matamoros, home is where the art is and she uses her many canvases to connect the past to the present.
“There are a lot of small things that I like to incorporate, like the Incan Indian heritage of my Ecuadorian ancestors,” Matamoros said.
She’s a visual artist, using her love for cars to inspire the next generation.
“I’ve worked in the automotive industry and it was typically gendered towards men but then I’m doing something and a little girl sees me and says, ‘I want to learn how to weld,’” she said.
For the self-taught artist, being a creator is about using the tools of your passions.
“It’s being able to imagine something bigger out of just raw materials,” Matamoros said.
It’s similar to the leaders of the non-profit ALMAAHH.
“The whole goal is to bring the community together to create a state-of-the-art complex for Latino art and culture, across all the disciplines, Tony Diaz said.
Diaz, the Chair of Community Engagement, said it would be a first for the county.
“It is mind-boggling that we don’t have a facility like this,” he said.
To kick off the planning stage, the group recently was awarded a $1 million grant from the Houston Endowment Fund.
“Part of that is conducting a survey to Latinos to all of Harris County to ask them what their hopes are for this wonderful complex, what are their ideas,” Diaz said.
They’re turning the page to a new legacy.
“We don’t have the same traditions and just really being able to explore that in one big space and seeing the cultural significance through each artist, I feel like it will open the door to so many other things,” Matamoros said.
To take the survey, click here.