CALA Alliance

CALA Alliance is a Latinx arts organization based in Phoenix. We collaborate with artists and arts organizations to nurture artistic talent, focusing on artists from the Latin American diaspora. CALA Alliance advances its mission through innovative artist residencies, artist commissions, community workshops, and public programming that position the Metro Phoenix region as a fruitful site that acknowledges and contributes to the promotion of Latinx art throughout the United States.

CALA Alliance (Celebración Artística de las Américas) was established in 2010 to celebrate the richness and depth of Latinx artistic talent in Arizona and strengthen connections to the Americas through art and culture. Between 2010-2014, CALA Alliance presented the CALA International Festival, which brought together Phoenix arts organizations to showcase Latino and Latin American dance, music, theater, film, poetry, and visual art.

In 2016, CALA Alliance hired its first Executive Director to transition the organization from presenting the festival to curating diverse programming year-round. Since then, CALA Alliance has expanded its artistic and intellectual reach, refocusing its program to be more artist forward by strengthening its existing offerings, such as CALA Alliance's signature cultural literacy program. In so doing, CALA Alliance has implemented innovative programming, strengthened international partnerships, and cultivated and developed new and existing audiences.

CALA Alliance serves several communities with its dynamic program. Phoenix has the fifth largest population in the U.S. and the eighth largest Latinx population at over forty percent. Despite these demographics, Latinx populations in the community often report being underrepresented, or worse, misrepresented. In many spaces, Latinxs feel invisible: their histories and contributions are not seen or valued in the city's narrative and, more broadly, in the United States. While in other cases, they feel too visible, portrayed in unfair ways because they do not have equitable access to creating and circulating their histories. Thus, CALA Alliance creates vital spaces for audiences to engage in artistic learning and presents public programs that create intercultural dialogue, revealing the complexity and dynamism of Latinxs in Phoenix and beyond.

Testimonials

"Thank you for all that you do to conserve and preserve Latin American arts and culture." -CALA Alliance Artist

"I support your mission and hope that your organization becomes stronger in the future. It is important and exceptionally well-run." -CALA Alliance Event Atendee