El Parque Collective

El Parque Collective (EPC) is a grassroots organization that provides creative mentorship, academic support, and financial resources to historically underrepresented Latinx artists who deserve an equitable chance to grow as creatives. At EPC, we foster a safe, creative space for young Latinx artists to explore and express their relationships to their identities, Latin-American histories, and their local community through storytelling. The nine-month pilot program introduces the young artists to a project and discussion-based curriculum where they brainstorm, workshop, and constructively critique each other’s visual arts projects and other Latinx related artwork.

The program will culminate into a series of final exhibitions during Latinx Heritage Month where the young artists will share their work locally in a community gallery and digitally through a virtual reality exhibit. Our goal is to make El Parque Collective an annual program in Englewood and a model that can be adapted by other Latinx communities around the United States. With this in mind, we hope to give Latinx artists the platform and community they need to tell their stories on their own terms.

Against the Grain, 2022. Photo by Stefano Castro.

EPC Founder and Educator, Stefano Castro, representing the collective at the United Nations for the Alliance of Civilizations, 2022.

EPC Artists outside Dwight Morrow High School, 2022.

EPC artists sharing their artwork in class. Photo by Sofia Zur, 2022.