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In collaboration since 2001 with the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, our formal affiliation in 2005 named us Puerto Rico's Ambassadors in Texas and the Southwest. Our achievement and quality have been validated since 2001 by annual support from the National Endowment for the Arts (most years), Texas Commission on the Arts, City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, NEA Chairman's Award (2007), Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (since 2011), and a Bloomberg Philanthropies training award for Arts Innovation and Management (since 2018).
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We are a community, bonded like Family, under the umbrella of cultural arts and Indigenous traditions. You must travel to faraway places like Chicago or New York City to enjoy another cultural center like ours! Our East Austin facility is home to Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance (PRFDance), our performing company of dancers, musicians, and juniors. It takes a village to raise a child; we are that village, for them and for each other.
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We serve the community with 12 weekly performing arts programs, cultural events,
and opportunities to learn Taino heritage.
Our multipurpose facility includes indoor and outdoor areas where free,
near-monthly cultural events and indigenous gatherings attract tourism and
give our underserved community opportunity to participate in living traditions.
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We share Taino history and traditions, music, dance, language, and more. Our active indigenous community -- Yara Taino & Guaytiao -- celebrates our heritage and shares life-ways on how we live in relationship with Nature. We welcome all and embrace the traditionally underserved whose access to the arts is limited by economics.
Mission & History - Video!!