The Hispanic Art and Education Center was founded by Ursula R. Murray as a non-profit organization under the auspices of the historic Church of Ste. Anne of Detroit. Since 1989 Ursula and the Center have been involved in many activities in Southwest Detroit.
Since March 2002 The Hispanic Art and Education Center has been in partnership with Bagley Housing Association to coordinate exhibitions and other cultural activities for the Bagley Housing Community Art Gallery. There have been a variety of artists and styles presented to the Hubbard Richard Community and visitors to our barrio since the Inaugural Exhibition. Some exhibits have been more popular than others. It has been interesting to see what the artist bring, how the public responds, and what is sold.
The Center’s purpose is to promote the richness and diversity of Latino cultures. This year’s program includes exhibitions of Mexican, Peruvian, Colombian, Brazilian, and Argentine artists. Within the community this effort is to instill pride in one’s heritage and encourage those with artistic interest to pursue their talents- for the youth we hope this means “staying in school”, and “see what you can do with the art in you”. We also hope to communicate that the arts are for everyone, not just the talented, rich, or university educated. Outside the community we hope to bridge cultures through an appreciation of art. Seventy-five percent of communication is said to be non-verbal; so we are counting on visual works to express universal values, emotions, and human desires. Most recently, we have expanded our mission to bring to the barrio artist of other ethnic backgrounds in a cultural exchange to promote cross-cultural understanding and appreciation and to see that we share many values, emotions, and desires ( in January a group of Christian and Muslim Arab/American artist exhibited, and in February Detroit African American members of the National Conference of Artists exhibited ).
For more information e-mail: umurray@madonna.edu ,phone days at (734) 432-5418 or Fax (248) 489-8656