Why this Chicana American skipped Spanish growing up and spreads the culture with art
_fitted%20(1).jpeg "Deanna Munoz, founder of Chicano Center for the Arts works to assist Hispanic artists in obtaining the resources needed to take their art up to the next level.")
Growing up in Olathe, Kansas, Deanna Munoz felt disconnected from her Hispanic heritage. In her early teen years she moved to Kansas City’s Westside area where she rediscovered her community and fell in love with her culture and the arts.
Munoz, herself an artist, started connecting with the local art and minority business scenes. There she found that Kansas City had limited space for Hispanic artists to exhibit their work. And outside the community she found a lot of room to educate people about Hispanic art and the culture.
For the past 8 years she has partnered with LatinX Education Collaborative as the director of strategic alliances where she found more ways to help expand her work with the Chicano Center for The Arts, which she started in a space at 1128 Oak St.. At the center Munoz provides resources and support for Hispanic Kansas Citians in business, creative writing, theater, photography, videography and other forms of the arts.
Recently, Munoz sat down with The Kansas City Star’s culture and identity reporter, J.M. Banks, to talk about reconnecting with your culture, finding your passion and highlighting Hispanic art in the Kansas City metro area.
Banks: Can you begin by telling me about your early life and upbringing?
Munoz: I tell people I don’t really have a specific place where I grew up in Kansas City. We moved about 25 times. I grew up in a lot of different places. I’m a Chicana, so I am Mexican American. My dad grew up in the projects on the Westside and my mom’s family also grew up on the Westside. We moved all the way up to Olathe, Kansas and that’s kind of where my journey started at not really knowing my culture very well.
I never learned Spanish. I can understand and speak a little bit but it’s always like you assimilate and you try to blend in. Then as I got older and I was in high school, my mom and dad divorced and we moved back into the city. When I was like, 13 years old I started to embrace my culture and learn everything about it.
Can you tell me about your work as the founder of Chicano Center for the Arts and Director of Strategic Alliances for the LatinX Education Collaborative?
I am the founder of the Chicano Center for the Arts which used to be the Latino Arts Foundation. In the role I’m actually doing what I always do, which is to build those bridges in communities and find ways to support each other here in Kansas City. We are in our eighth year and we have a yearly art festival that is happening Oct. 6 and we have entrepreneurial programs, over 100 Latino entrepreneurs. We want to help our artists to continue their dreams, whatever that might be.
What made you want to go into those particular areas for a career?
I always wanted to be an artist myself. I was not able to find support for that and it made me feel I wasn’t able to pursue that as a career. I never wanted that to happen for another person. My daughter started writing when she was 6 years old and I wanted to find mentorship for her. So that’s how my organization got started. We’ve just grown in regard to anything and everything that an aspiring artist would need or want in regards to programming festivals. Any kind of support that we can provide. And then with the L.E.C. and the Strategic Alliance, it is just what I’ve always done even alongside my Chicano arts work, which is just connecting with people and learning our differences.
What are the challenges that you face in your career?
The challenges are probably always going to be the grants and the money. It’s hard, especially in the art world. Small organizations aren’t always fully funded, or supported, so just always trying to find ways to continue to support programs that support our communities and also ensure that they are equitable for them.
How do you feel your work impacts the community around you?
By giving those people resources that they otherwise maybe didn’t know about or couldn’t obtain. I’m hoping that we can be that outreach for somebody whether that’s in the arts or in education. You can come here and we may not know the answer to the problem, but we will definitely help you in supporting you to find the answers.
What is the most fulfilling part of your work.
I think community engagement and definitely working alongside our communities. I love meeting people and I love learning about people’s experiences and their backgrounds. I love finding the ways that we intertwine.
What are some ways you hope to see the Hispanic art market here in Kansas City grow in years to come?
I just hope they get more visibility. I hope that their stories get out there and they get shared and highlighted.
What are you most excited for in regards to the future of this new generation of Black, brown and minority artists coming up in Kansas City?
They’re not afraid, they are themselves. They are authentic, and are who they are. I love that and I admire that. They’re comfortable in who they are and they don’t take anything else, no one’s going to tell them how to do it any differently.
Do you have a personal motto or philosophy that guides you?
You can always obtain whatever it is that you are dreaming or hoping for. You can do it and never give up.
Do you have a memorable achievement in your personal journey thus far that stands out?
I think it was my actual first day that we did our first art mentorship. It was at El Centro (Inc.’s) Academy for Children. We had 45 families show up that day and had about 15 mentors of all different backgrounds come and support the art class that was happening. Just seeing that I was able to offer a resource to so many families that needed it. Hearing feedback from mentors saying that these kids’ art is 10 times better than they were at that age. That is just a really good feeling to know that we could help and support.
What are your organization’s goals for the future?
Our goal for the future is to continue to expand the partnership and I really don’t know what that means or what that will look like. I just hope to continue to be able to be here and provide services towards what we are doing.
What advice would you give to someone who is looking to follow the same career path as yourself?
I would definitely find people that are doing the things you like or that you are inspired by and reach out to them. Set up a meeting, get a coffee. I wish I had known how to do network back 15 years ago, but I didn’t and I just learned it along the way. But it’s been the most amazing thing. Because you’re not just networking, you’re also meeting people. You’re like I said, you’re learning people’s journeys. I think just continue to research and continue to find those people that will support you.
The voices and stories of Kansas City metro area residents, from those communities that historically have not been heard, are important because they connect us in ways we didn’t know we needed. If you know a change maker, a culture contributor or someone with a great passion for helping in any of these targeted communities, tell us about them. Contacting J.M. Banks at jbanks@kcstar.com or Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity, mdwilliams@kcstar.com.
