Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas

Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas—Latin American Cultural Roots ("Raíces") is a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization based in Aldan. Since its founding in 1991 by Delco residents Michael Esposito and Yolanda Alcorta, Raíces has served Delaware County and the Philadelphia area in general through vibrant cultural programs and community engagement. Raíces increases public awareness of the beauty and diversity inherent in our Latin American Cultural Roots. We accomplish this through our many music and dance performances, and innovative educational programs that highlight our food, crafts, visual arts, poetry, and all facets of our culture that make us who we are, especially in the United States. From our beginnings in 1991, Raíces has focused on taking the diverse elements of our community and has forged them into a potent force to promote cultural equality, foster mutual understanding and challenge intolerance. We started by offering music and dance performances featuring several countries to highlight the diversity of artistic expression to non-Latinx/é audiences, and unify Latinx/é audiences in celebrating our common heritage even in the midst of this diversity. Later we added school programs and artists-in-residence to also showcase visual arts, expand our outreach to other audiences, and provide vital cultural support for educators.

Our major successes have been our longevity, passion for detail, and innovation in creating varied programming that accomplishes our core objective of sharing facets of Latin American culture - an inexhaustible resource that we continuously draw upon. We constantly research our traditions to create new, unique activities that give our audiences, both in the community and the general society, the chance to experience our culture from deeper and different perspectives.

We have taken the Guatemalan marimba, the Colombian cumbia, the Panamanian tamborito, the Puerto Rican bomba, the Bolivian Diablada, and many other wonderful dances and rhythms, and have brought them together in a dazzling display of color, energy, and joyful celebration. Raíces is multi-dimensional and multi-generational, firmly believing in the power of our heritage and working to preserve this cultural treasure so that our future generations may shape it and share it for decades to come.