La Casita Cultural Center announces its annual spring show YOUNG ART 2024/ARTE JOVEN 2024, opening to the public on Friday, April 19, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. This event recognizes the talent and achievements of local youths between the ages of 6-12 enrolled in La Casita’s arts education programs. The opening reception will take place at La Casita, and refreshments will be served. Admission is free and open to the public.
This event culminates the projects of La Casita’s free after-school programs during the current academic year. La Casita’s Danza troupe will perform at the reception led by Syracuse University student Gabriela Padilla (class of ’25) who has been the program’s dance instructor and choreographer for the past two years. Children in the Piano, Violin and Guitar classes will also perform along with their instructors, including the talented violinist and graduate of the SU Setnor School of Music, Tales Navarro (G ’24), and piano instructor, a sophomore at SU, Myra Bocage (’26).
The exhibit will also feature works produced in La Casita’s innovative new Multimedia Storytelling program. This program was facilitated by Kelly Gallagher Associate Professor of Film in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Syracuse-based artist and illustrator Cayetano Valenzuela, the exhibiting artist in La Casita’s 2023-24 exhibit Futurismo Latino.
Weekly artmaking workshops for children have also been held throughout the academic year by Bennie Guzman (G’25), who is La Casita’s Programming Coordinator and a graduate student in Creative Arts Therapy at Syracuse University.
“We are extremely proud of our youth’s accomplishments and deeply grateful for the steadfast commitment of our partners on and off the Syracuse University campus, our partner organizations in the Syracuse community, and more than 200 S.U. students who volunteer their time to support our programs and our children,” said Tere Paniagua, executive director of the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community at SU. “The remarkable achievements are unquestionable as we gain new knowledge and understanding about each other, about the many cultures of our world and how we connect through art.”
Support for La Casita’s youth programs comes from Syracuse University, the Central NY Community Foundation and its Youth STEM Funder Collaborative; the Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation, and Wegmans. Additional funding comes from Poets & Writers, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Environmental Storytelling CNY, and SUNY ESF’s Writing Program.
La Casita Cultural Center is located at 109 Otisco St, Syracuse NY, 13204.