The Latin American Cultural Center opened its doors to the public on Tuesday. Take a look inside: Watch the video above. The building itself has a lot of history. It was built in 1912 for the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania on Bigelow Boulevard. The Association for Latin American Studies acquired it in 2019. Bill DeWalt is the senior advisor for the Association for Latin American Studies that has now created the new Latin American Cultural Center. The cultural anthropologist has traveled to Latin America from time to time since 1970. “Very few people in the United States know much about Latin America despite the fact that about 18% of our population has Latin American roots. Even Latin Americans, I would say they know a lot about their particular country, but they really don’t know about the region. They don’t know about other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said DeWalt. The new center highlights the region’s geography, history, religion and arts, among other things. For example, DeWalt said the Maya villages have their own clothing styles. “They make their own weaving patterns and then the embroidery is really unique to each village. You’ll instantly know where a person is from by the clothes they’re wearing,” DeWalt said. Whether it’s clothing or art, the Latin American Cultural Center gives guests an inside look at a different part of the world. Sandra Budd is assistant director and curator for the Latin American Cultural Center. “It’s the only Latin American cultural center in the United States that focuses specifically on the peoples, cultures and arts of Latin America,” Budd said. When guests come downstairs, they will find the museum’s permanent collection with a series of touch screens, artifacts and a music collection. “We’ve selected some instruments that appear in some of the music and dance of Latin America,” Budd said. Upstairs is the Grand Gallery, which DeWalt says will feature special, temporary exhibits like Maya Spirituality. “These artists have produced these beautiful paintings that you see around us. They first sold them to tourists. Eventually, as they got better at their craft, it was picked up by collectors around the world,” DeWalt said. The experience is eye-opening for visitors like Floyd Smith, one of the first to explore the new center. He is visits Pittsburgh from the San Francisco area. “It’s a big part of the world and we can’t all travel everywhere and check everything out ourselves, so this brings things to us and lets us see where we might want to go if we are traveling into the future,” said Smith. Right now, the center is open from Tuesday to Thursday every week. Visits are made by appointment. For more information, click here.
The Latin American Cultural Center opened its doors to the public on Tuesday.
Take a look inside: Watch the video above.
The building itself has a lot of history. It was built in 1912 for the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania on Bigelow Boulevard. The Latin American Studies Association acquired it in 2019.
Bill DeWalt is senior advisor to the Latin American Studies Association that has now established the new Latin American Cultural Center. The cultural anthropologist has been traveling in Latin America since 1970.
“Very few people in the United States know much about Latin America, despite the fact that about 18% of our population has Latin American roots. Even Latin Americans, I would say they know a lot about their particular country, but they really don’t know about the region. They don’t know about other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,” DeWalt said.
The new center highlights the region’s geography, history, religion and arts, among other things.
For example, DeWalt said Maya villages have their own clothing styles.
“They make their own weaving patterns and then the embroidery is really unique to each village. You’ll instantly know where a person is from by the clothes they’re wearing,” DeWalt said.
Whether it’s clothing or art, the Latin American Cultural Center gives guests an inside look at a different part of the world.
Sandra Budd is assistant director and curator for the Latin American Cultural Center.
“It’s the only Latin American cultural center in the United States that focuses specifically on the peoples, cultures and arts of Latin America,” Budd said.
When guests descend downstairs, they will find the museum’s permanent collection featuring a series of touch screens, artifacts and a music collection.
“We’ve selected several instruments that appear in Latin American music and dance,” Budd said.
Upstairs is the Grand Gallery, which DeWalt says will feature special, temporary exhibits such as Maya Spirituality.
“These artists produced these beautiful paintings that you see around us. They first sold them to tourists. Eventually, as they got better at their craft, it caught on with collectors around the world,” DeWalt said.
The experience is eye-opening for visitors like Floyd Smith, one of the first to explore the new center. He is visiting Pittsburgh from the San Francisco area.
“It’s a big part of the world and we can’t all travel everywhere and check everything out on our own, so it brings things to us and lets us see where we might want to go if we travel in the future,” Smith said. . .
At the moment, the center is open every week from Tuesday to Thursday. Visits are made by appointment. For more information, click here.
