Due to seismic and HVAC retrofitting, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) must find a new home by July 2024.
MCCLA’s current building is owned by the city, which will be incurring the costs of the retrofitting; however, the staff is concerned about financing the move and rent for their new location.
“So with the support of our supervisor, Hillary Ronen, and you know, we were able to get additional funding from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Board of Supervisors approved some funding that helped us raise some initial funds and most recently, in the mayor’s budget, we received another amount that is helping us but it’s not enough,” said Executive Director Martina Ayala.
Ayala assumed the role of Executive Director of MCCLA on March 1, 2022; a day after MCCLA had been informed about the retrofittings.
Currently, MCCLA has secured $400,000 for the relocation, however, Ayala estimates a total of $2 million will be required to properly move and secure a new building.
“It’s difficult for people to move out of a one-bedroom apartment, you can imagine the challenge of moving out of a four-story building with a historic print shop, a theater, a gallery and we have music, dance and art studios and offices. So the move is huge,” Ayala said.
MCCLA has been supporting Latino art and cultural programming in the Mission since 1977. Their current location — a 37,500 square-foot, four-floor building located on Mission Street between 24th and 25th streets — hosts several arts programs, including rehearsals for the annual Carnaval festival.
“The city will make do and support whatever modifications are needed to be retrofitted, but that means that we have to move out and there’s no possibility for us to stay there,” said Robert Sanchez, a member of MCCLA’s Board of Directors.
Sanchez has been on the Board of Directors for the last four months and has been assisting in the relocation efforts.
Retrofitting is expected to be completed in two years, meaning the temporary facility has to be able to accommodate a similar amount of traffic that MCCLA sees today.
“The center at this time supports over 10,000 individuals, going through there, in some fashion, through training or exposure or expression or classes,” Sanchez said. In the meantime, Sanchez said they plan to acquire vehicles to provide their services to schools off-site.
The start date for construction at MCCLA’s facility at 2868 Mission St. has changed and been pushed back several times, from November 2023 to July 2024. Ayala said this creates a problem as certain funds from donors must be used within a certain time frame.
“Whenever you ask donors, or foundations for funding, they have dates that you have to use their funding during a certain period of time,” Ayala said. “We don’t want to lose out on opportunities for potential buildings that we might find, because we keep changing the date.”
Ayala said that the lack of a solid date for when the construction is expected to begin has become their greatest challenge. “It’s really difficult for us to raise money, identify a building or even negotiate a lease if we don’t have an exact move-out date,” Ayala said. “It’s not about the move-out date, it’s all the planning that has to take place before that date. Moving out of this building is not something that happens overnight.”
MCCLA is having a fundraiser on Oct. 28 featuring a preview of their Day of the Dead celebration that is scheduled for Nov. 2. The event will feature appetizers, mezcal, and tequila tasting in addition to a fashion show and live music.
MCCLA staff would like to secure a location that can accommodate the same services that the current location provides, including a theater, a print shop, and dance, music and art studios. Ayala said that they have yet to find a location within their budget that can accommodate these services.
“I consider art and culture essential to the community’s well-being. I consider the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts the hospital for the soul. This is a healing space for the community, this is where the community gathers and nurtures itself. We welcome people from all over, but specifically, people from Latin America have a place where they can celebrate, to promote their culture and traditions.” Ayala said. “So you asked me, ‘can the city do more?’ I would always hope that the city could do more and sees themselves in a position to do more.”
