San Anto Cultural Arts is a nonprofit founded in 1993 with the mission to foster human and community de-velopment through commu-nity-based arts. A focus on art through community en-gagement led to the creation of two community-based arts programs: The Community Mural & Public Art Program, and El Placazo Community Newspaper & Mentor Pro-gram. These dynamic pro-grams engage residents and foster the talents of youth by educating them on the his-tory and techniques of public art. Our programs document and preserve the rich history and heritage of the Westside.
The purpose of the El Placazo Newspaper and Mentor program is to educate and train youth in all aspects of newspaper production including photography, jour-nalism, computer layout and design, desktop publishing, and editing. Develop and nurture the artistic, writ-ing, and cognitive skills of youth participants. Allow for community residents to voice, document and express their creativity, history, so-cial concerns and thoughts through the submission and publication of poetry, arti-cles, and artwork. El Placazo Community Newspaper is a community-operated news-paper designed as an educa-tional tool for participants in-terested in developing skills in all aspects of newspaper production. The newspaper serves as a unique outlet for our participants to express themselves and to docu-ment their culture. Through their work with El Placazo, participants develop self-efficacy / esteem through self-identification and the development of communi-\ cation and cognitive skill building. The process of El Placazo instills positive work ethics and responsibility, and challenges youth, adults, and elders to investigate, uncover and translate both the beauty and the ills that make up our community.
General sub-scriptions are $20 dollars, and $5 for inmates, upon request. To become part of the El Placazo Newspaper Program as a youth staff member, a writing, photog-raphy or layout/design men-tor, or a general volunteer.
Please contact San Anto Cultural Arts at 226-7466 or elplacazo@sananto.org.