Community Projects

Pastor Richie Butler, member of SMU’s Board of Trustees, is the founder of Project Unity which helps lead Together We Dine, a dining event that is geared to spark courageous and safe conversations about race at the dining table among total strangers. Participants will engage in healthy and structural dialogue that builds relationships and trust.

Leah Rothstein is the daughter of Richard Rothstein co-author of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America which has sold over 1 million copies and describes how government policy created residential segregation in the United States. Co-authoring with her father, Leah Rothstein will join us to introduce the upcoming sequel to The Color of Law titled Just Action, which is set for release in June 2023 and will describe how local community groups can redress the wrongs of segregation. Leah has also worked on public policy and community change, from the grassroots to the halls of government.

Dr. Michael Phillips is a scholar of American race relations, Texas history, right-wing politics, and apocalyptic religions. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002, his dissertation won the University of Texas at Austin Outstanding Dissertation Award and was published as White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001. White Metropolis was awarded the 2007 Texas Historical Commission’s prize for best book on Texas history. He is currently a SMU Clements Senior Fellow for the Study of Southwestern America.

A storytelling session with beats from an African drum, learning about culture, geography, world history and international music in a unique and exciting way.

Pastor Nuke Johnson has been reciting the speeches and sermons of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King JR. since the young age of 6 years old. Mr. Johnson’s determination to keep the powerful and transcending words of Dr. King alive drives his passion to expose audiences to the voice that has given hope to many for generations.

David Newton is a classically trained sculptor, dedicating his career to transforming ordinary African American people and forgotten historical moments into unforgettable, timeless monuments of beauty. Newton was commissioned to sculpt the Dallas Freedman Cemetery Memorial Park. Lewis Rhone is the longest living grandson of Dr. Marcellus Clayton Cooper, the first licensed African-American dentist in Dallas who was born into slavery to the Caruth Family, one of the largest slave-owning families in Dallas.

Jim Schutze is an acclaimed veteran political journalist and author of The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City, which details the violent and suppressed history of race and racism in Dallas. Peter Simek of D Magazine has called The Accommodation “The Most Dangerous Book in Dallas.”

As part of the Yanga: Journeys to Freedom exhibition, Latino Arts Project welcomed Qubilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, to celebrate this legendary freedom fighter on his birthday and a personal insight of him as a man, a husband and a father.

Also presenting was local activist and life-long Malcolmite, Thomas Muhammad, who shared the history of the Black Panther movement and early days of the civil rights movement from an insider’s view.

About the Performance

Latino Arts Project proudly partnered with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for a special concert by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, featuring the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Tambuco Percussion Ensemble from Mexico City, and the Dallas Chamber Choir.

About the Collaboration

Produced by Cara Mía Theatre and Latino Arts Project, The Latino Center for Leadership Development is proud to present the world-premiere of Ursula and post-show panel discussing the immigration crisis from the lens of Central America, Mexico, and the U.S.

About the Celebration

Latino Arts Project was proud to present an artistic performance celebrating Afro-Mexican culture during Black History Month. The performance benefited After8toEducate and promoted unity by honoring the art, history, and ancestry of the combined African and Mexican cultures.

Attendees experienced the performance of world-renowned entertainer, Alejandra Robles, spoken word poetry with local youth, dance with traditional masks from Mexico and Afro-Mexican art & fashion.

About the Exhibition

This exhibition illustrated the aesthetics movement in Mexico, known as Escuela Mexicana de Escultura or Mexican School of Sculpture. These 9 featured artists are clearly positioned within the historical context of the Post-Revolution era in Mexico after 1920. It is focused on the revaluation and the exaltation of being Mexican; the nationalistic spirit of that time, and the ideals of the Revolution that both influenced and was influenced by the art. Mexican Modern Sculpture: A Study of the Artists has been organized by the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo in Mexico City with the support of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and the Secretaría de Cultura of Mexico and Latino Arts Project is proud to be the only US venue.

Curated by art scholar María Estela Duarte, one of the greatest authorities in Mexican sculpture, this exhibition is the culmination of 14 years searching for previously undiscovered pieces and of academic research to create the most comprehensive look to date at these 9 artists, who reached their pinnacle of fame during the 1920’s – 1950’s and then were lost to history. Visitors will observe how each artist approached volume, using sculpture, and the influence of Mesoamerican cultures. Additionally, the way they dealt with identity and historical and social impact, such as family – particularly mother/motherland figure, education, history, politics and with the European avant-garde movements, like Art Deco.

About The Artists

This exquisite group exhibit includes more than 90 sculptures and numismatics plus several photographs and other documents of the 9 artists and it highlights the 5 regions where the artist were born and worked: Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Puebla and Mexico City:

Manuel Centurión (1883 – 1952)

Fidias Elizondo (1891 – 1979)

Guillermo Toussaint (1892 – 1965)

Juan Leonardo Cordero (1896 – 1960)

Carmen Carrillo de Antúnez (1900 – 1982)

Abraham Jiménez López (1901 – ca. 1988)

José L. Ruiz (1903 – 1981)

Isaías Cervantes Rodríguez (1903 – 1982)

Alberto de la Vega (1923 – 1969)