Located just a few blocks from the Texas capitol, La Peña is a cultural cornerstone of Austin. The gallery and Latinx cultural arts organization was founded by sisters Lidia and Cynthia Pérez in 1982. La Peña takes its name from the peñas (gatherings) that they began hosting in the 1970s and 1980s, which were attended by artists, musicians, writers, and activists. Eventually these peñas found a home in a historic building on the corner of 3rd street and Congress Avenue, and the Pérez sisters founded a nonprofit art gallery to support Latinx artists. Today La Peña is an official intermediary between artists and the City of Austin, helping artists apply for grants from the city’s arts commission.
The onset of the pandemic threw the local arts scene into chaos. When the first lockdown went into effect in March 2020, The Pérez sisters’ first priority was reaching out to every artist in their community to ensure they applied for COVID-19 relief aid from the city’s emergency fund. But like the artists they were helping, the core of their own revenue came from in-person gatherings and events. Apart from a simple website and a Facebook and Instagram page, they did not need to maintain much of a presence online. All of a sudden their entire existence had to be relocated to these digital spheres, so the next exhibit they produced embraced this challenge as a unique moment in time. Pandemic and Resistance was one of the first exhibits to be featured in its entirety on La Peña’s website, alongside a series of interviews with the artists posted to social media and Youtube.
The Pérezes have a long history in the cultural life of Austin, not only in the arts, but also in food and activism. Their Tex-Mex cafe Las Manitas was reported to be one of the best in Austin (a high honor for a city with some truly excellent Tex-Mex). In 2006, a hotel developer set their sights on lower Congress avenue to build a new Marriott on the ground where Las Manitas stood. The decision provoked outrage throughout the Austin community, and the sisters, Cynthia in particular, fought the decision in court until the developers won in 2008. However, the decision lives in infamy to this day, thanks in part to the advocacy of the Pérez sisters. In a Texas Monthly article written at the time, Cynthia was quoted announcing the arrival of one of the developer’s lawyers to the entire restaurant one morning: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the lawyer who represents the white guys who plan to bulldoze Las Manitas!”
After Las Manitas closed, the Pérezes began selling tacos at La Peña. Customers who come in for a breakfast taco often stay to browse the gallery. It is a relaxed yet stimulating atmosphere–a cafe, gallery, and arts collective all at once. They host several annual exhibits. Their most recent one, “Celebrating Women Through the Arts,” marked International Women’s Day and featured a number of prominent and emerging women artists. In their fundraising exhibit, Toma Mi Corazón, which happens every February, participating artists are given a wooden heart to transform, which are then sold in an auction. This year’s corazones can be seen on La Peña’s Instagram.
Perhaps the most impactful annual exhibit at La Peña is their collaboration with Sanchez Elementary. Each year, fourth grade students from the East Austin elementary school work on an art project celebrating their identities. As of 2020, more than 90% of Sanchez students are Latinx, and 76% of students are learning English as a second language. The school’s partnership with La Peña allows students to engage in thinking outside of academics and learn new artmaking skills. Their artwork is then displayed at La Peña, giving students the opportunity to see their work in a professional gallery. Past projects include handmade Lotería cards and drawings on a traditional Mexican amate paper, which can be seen here.
In 2020 the school faced major structural changes, including a two-year construction project and a merger with nearby Metz elementary. The 2020 exhibit was challenged not only by the in-progress merger but also the pandemic, leaving the direction of the project uncertain. To ensure that the students still saw their art represented, the staff of La Peña came up with two solutions. First they printed two large banners, one for Sanchez and one for Metz, featuring each student’s work and hung them outside each school for the entire neighborhood to see. To accompany this offline solution, they reached out to a local tech company to create a 360º capture of the gallery with the students’ work in it. They also hired an intern (me) to create a short video telling the story of the exhibit.
La Peña has served as a friend, collaborator, and example to follow for cultural arts organizations around Austin for 40 years, and continues to do so today. Their willingness to adapt, attentiveness to the needs of artists, and bold pragmatism make them a strong case study for any organization in its founding stages.
You can find out more about La Peña on their Instagram and Facebook pages, as well as their website.