As La Casita Cultural Center turns 15 this year, it is marking its own coming of age by exploring one of the most cherished traditions across Latino cultures: the quinceañera, the celebration of a girl’s 15^th birthday.

La Casita was founded in 2011 by College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professor Silvio Torres-Saillant and former faculty member Inmaculada Lara-Bonilla, working with other University faculty, staff, and community leaders. Its development grew out of a two-year participatory process of community dialogues, workshops and focus groups where Syracuse residents helped shape what the center would become.

Over 15 years, La Casita has served thousands of students and local residents and has become “much more than a cultural center,” says Tere Paniagua, executive director of the University’s Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community. “It is simultaneously a community resource, a learning environment, a research site and an archive of Latino life in Central New York.”

Among La Casita’s most significant achievements are the documentation and preservation of its programming and Latino community life via the New York Heritage Digital Collections and a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History that explores how baseball connects migration, family, identity and cultural memory in Latino communities.

As an experiential learning and research environment, La Casita has hosted more than 2,600 students from the University and other regional institutions as interns, researchers and volunteers who often remain connected with the center long after graduation.

Last year, 34 students held internships or assistantships; 170 students logged 2,000+ hours of volunteer or service-learning activity; 11 University courses integrated La Casita programming; and 12 student researchers used its materials and programs.

Eighty youths enjoy weekly after-school programs and 30 women are engaged in adult programming. A new collaboration with Buena Vida of Central New York extends programming to elders.

A Forefront Role

After 15 years of building trust and reciprocal relationships between the University and Syracuse’s Latino communities, Paniagua sees an opportunity to position the University at the forefront of research on Latino communities, cultural memory and community-engaged learning.

“La Casita is at an important moment,” Paniagua says. “We want to continue strengthening the programs that have become central to our mission: youth arts and education, arts and cultural programming, community-engaged research and opportunities for students. We also want to think ambitiously about its role in the next 15 years. Our programs have generated thousands of photographs, oral histories, research projects, exhibitions, student experiences and community stories. Examining those materials for this anniversary has made us realize how important that institutional history has become.”

Anniversary Events 

Two events mark La Casita’s anniversary. An exhibition, “Sueños de Quinceañera/Quinceañera Dreams,”  opens Saturday, Sept. 19.

Argentine-American author Yamile Saied Méndez will present a talk about her books, “Dreaming of a Quinceañera” and “Twice a Quinceañera,” on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Both events are free and open to the public and are part of this year’s Syracuse Symposium, “Dreams.”