The mission of Talento Bilingüe de Houston’s focus is to create Houston’s multicultural arts experience through collaboration, education and preservation.
Founded in 1977 as a small troupe known as “Teatro Bilingüe de Houston” (Bilingual Theater of Houston), this non-profit organization has evolved into a Latino Cultural Arts Center that offers a year-round series of performing arts and exhibits, alongside educational programming such as ongoing multidisciplinary workshops, a summer arts camp for children, and school touring productions.
The center has built positive significant collaborations with various theatre groups, arts organizations, environmental groups, educational institutions, businesses, and marketing groups. Recent unprecedented partnerships with the Houston Grand Opera and Opera in the Heights expanded cultural programming and exposed audiences to world-class talent. Performances have received outstanding reviews, such as the production of the fable Bocon, which was voted Best Bilingual Production by the Houston Press in 2010. Last year, almost 60,000 onsite and offsite audience’s lives were enriched by its performances, exhibits, and educational programs.
Talento Bilingüe de Houston is nestled adjacent to Guadalupe Plaza Park and Buffalo Bayou; the center is located in the East End, less than a mile from downtown Houston, the renovated building is a beautiful 18,000 square foot facility leased from the City of Houston Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department. The facility has a 240-seat theater, professional dance studio, rehearsal room, a gallery space, commercial kitchen and administrative offices. The facility completed a redeveloped with a $992,000 Community Development Block Grant through the City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department in 1996.
In 2002, the Board of Directors adopted a business plan prepared for the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County (CACHH) that targeted Talento Bilingüe de Houston as the appropriate agency in the City of Houston to develop itself further as a Latino Cultural Arts Center. The business plan succeeds by expanding programs that meet the needs of a diverse and growing Latino population who live in Houston and those who visit the Greater Houston Area. The Center has become a destination venue for other multicultural organizations and international visitors.
Through out these recent months we have seen how much the East End is growing and changing. A lot of exciting work is underway to renovate the historically known Guadalupe Park. The renovation will be overseen by the Greater East End Management District and funded by a TIGER VI grant to the City of Houston. The purpose of the renovation is going to promote park use. Some of the known existing infrastructures of Guadalupe Park will be removed to create additional green space along Jensen and the sight line to the Bayou will be extended. In addition a roundabout will also be implemented on the Jensen/Navigation intersection.
