ESB-MACC Education Department

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Academia Cuauhtli  | About the Education Department | Caminos Teen Leadership 

Our Mission

The Education Department within the Emma S. Barrientos - Mexican American Cultural Center seeks to provide dynamic, innovative, and socially relevant educational programming that preserves, creates, and promotes Mexican American and Latinx cultural arts and heritage. For more information or for assistance with registration, email Erik Granados at Erik.Granados@austintexas.gov or call the MACC education phone number: 512-974-3785.

Education Programs

CAMINOS TEEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 

Check out the new CAMINOS INTERNSHIP PROGRAM BLOG where we will post monthly content that the Caminantes & Caminos Team curate! Follow @ATXCAMINOS on Instagram and Facebook! You can view  posts, images, links to personal work on the team's accomplishments & projects for the month. 

 

SABADOS EN FAMILIA

10/12/2024, 12-2pm, Southeast Branch Library
11/9/2024, 12-2pm, Little Walnut Creek Branch
12/14/2024, 10:00am-12:00pm, Windsor Park Branch Library
1/11/2025, 12-2pm, Twin Oaks Branch Library
2/8/2025, 12-2pm, Menchaca Branch Library 
3/8/2025, 12-2pm, North Village Branch Library
4/12/2025, 12-2pm, Pleasant Hill Branch Library
5/10/2025, 12-2pm, Milwood Branch Library

Sábados en Familia is a free kids’ cultural arts and crafts program delivered by the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican-American Cultural Center at Austin libraries. Sábados en Familia (Saturdays with family) is a monthly program, usually offered on the second Saturday of the month, at local libraries. Participants will engage in a bilingual storytime and hands-on cultural arts activities that reflect the creative endeavors and diverse interests of the Austin community.

*Kid- friendly, all ages
*Hands-on story and activity for families
*Cultural art education

ACADEMIA CUAUHTLI

 Academia Cuauhtli (Eagle Academy) is a language and culture revitalization project for 4th-grade students from Metz, Perez, Sanchez, Zavala and Houston Elementary Schools from the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Academia Cuauhtli offers instruction in Mexican American Studies and Tejano Studies curriculum.

Aztech Kidz Code is Academia Cuauhtli's FREE bilingual summer camp in collaboration with the Academia Cuauhtli, which is specifically designed for developing STEM skills using coding tools for kids. This camp is a project-based, language, and Indigenous STEM program for second to sixth-grade students attending the Austin Independent School District. This is a youth technology program designed to teach students how to code, create video games, and monetize their creations. They also learn cultural arts traditions such as Danza Mexica. This camp is open to current Academia Cuauhtli students and emergent bilingual students. Classes are taught in Spanish and Nahuatl.

Learn more about  Academia Cuauhtli! 

Austin's CIS After School Program

The mission of Communities In Schools (CIS) in Texas is to surround students with a community of support, empowering students to stay in school and achieve in life. The CIS model is designed to keep students persisting in education and ultimately graduate from high school. CIS partners with educators, students, and parents to identify the specific needs of students who are at-risk of dropping out of school. Once needs are identified, CIS customizes supports for students and families and provides individual case management services to help students fully engage in learning, involving the community as part of this process. CIS monitors student level data and tracks education outcomes for those students served.

Learn more about CIS!
 

Figúralo: Youth Exhibit 

The Youth Exhibit, Figúralo is the annual youth exhibit featuring artwork from young artists from across central Texas.  Figúralo showcases the exploration of artistic mediums through figurines, figurative images and figurative narratives. This winter exhibit asks the question, where can my imagination take me? 

Figuralo exhibit coming in Fall 2024!  If you are interested in the Figuralo exhibit, email Eufemia.Rivera@austintexas.gov.

Figúralo 2022 Youth Exhibit on the Smithsonian Learning Lab

TEJANO GENEALOGY SOCIETY OF AUSTIN

Now at the George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center
1165 Angelina Street, Austin, Texas 78702
1st Saturdays of the month @ 10am

View upcoming events & meetings!

Digital Lessons

LIBRARY OF ONLINE CURRICULUM with VIDEO LESSONS for PARENTS/TEACHERS

Watch Instructional Videos on Youtube!

If you are visiting this site through the Lending Library, click here for a list of lesson plans.

Anyone can access any of our Individual lessons, including the lending library lessons, below:
 

Lucha Libre (Mexican Professional Wrestling) is known worldwide for its high-flying moves and colorful masks. This lesson will show how to make your own luchador mask using templates available for free in the links below:

View the full Lucha Libre Lesson!

Enter the Smithsonian Learning Lab!

Print the Lesson Plan & Mask Template!

Watch Instructional Video!

More Resources on This Lesson:
Teacher Guide 5-7 years, Teacher Guide 8-10 years
Parent Guide (5-7 years), Parent Guide (8-10 years)

Learn about the Mythical Mexican Axolotl! Participants will create an understanding of the significance of the Axolotl while learning about the origins of the Axolotl. Participants will learn about the Environmental Injustice they face in Mexico City and all over the world.

View/ Print the Full Lesson Plan!

Print the Template!

Watch the Instructional Video!

View the Lesson Page! 

Mexican Milk Snake: Participants will create and learn about the significance of the Mexican Milk Snake (between Texas and Mexico) and it’s unique facts. Students will create their own accordion snake.

View/ Print the Full Lesson Plan!

View the Lesson Page! 

Watch the Instructional Video!

Learn More About Borderland Wildlife!

Nature Self Portrait: Participants will learn the importance of self-portraits, and while analyzing portraits of Latinx historical and contemporary figures. Participants will also use what they have learned to create portraits of themselves.

View/ Print the Lesson Plan!

Watch the Instructional Video!

Tecun Uman Masks: Participants will create and decorate a mask inspired by the Tecún Umán masks of Guatemala, while learning about the history and meaning of Tecún Umán masks.

View/ Print the Full Lesson Plan!

Watch the Instructional Video!

Coloring Book and Gallery Tour: Students will learn about the history of the MACC and consider what kind of art they would put on the gallery walls.

The free book,  "An Empowered Village and Its Citizens" is a coloring and activity book that tells of the history of the ESB-MACC and encourages children to envision what they would like to see take place at the Center.

View/ Print the Coloring Book (PDF)!

Watch this Live Reading of the coloring book!

Visit the Coloring Book Lesson page!

Take a Virtual Tour of the MACC!

Explore environmental justice as it relates to Latin American rainforests, taking simple steps to fight for justice.

Click Here for COMPLETE Lesson

Instructional Video for Ages 5-6

For Parents
Parent Guide Rainforest (7-13 years)

For Teachers
Teaching Guide

A thriving subculture in Austin, lowriders celebrate this tradition in Chicanx communities.

Click Here for COMPLETE Lesson

Resources for Parents
Lowriders Instructional Video
Lowriders Parent Teaching Guide Ages 5-6 years
Lowriders Parent Teaching Guide Ages 7-13 years

Resources for Teachers
Lowriders Instructional Video
Lowriders Teaching Curriculum Ages 5-6 years
Lowriders Teaching Curriculum Ages 7-13 years

Join ESB-MACC educators Lori Navarrete, Michelle de Santiago, and Gricelda Silva in a video tutorial on calaveras de azucar, or sugar skulls. The video will tell viewers about the origin of sugar skull making as a way to honor the deceased, as well as a complete recipe for making them and tips on decorating. The final part of the video includes a prerecorded Q & A by students in classrooms all over the U.S. The video was filmed with Nepris, a virtual classroom that broadcasts directly to schools, and was created as a step by step tutorial to coincide with the ESB-MACC's Day of the Dead Festival.

Click here for COMPLETE Lesson 

Sugar Skull Making Video Tutorial 2018
Sugar Skull Making and Paper Flower Making, 2020

On permanent display at the ESB-MACC is Uprooted Dreams (2012), a site-specific sculptural installation that features over 19 individual, brightly colored woodcarvings. For the artist Margarita Cabrera, the process and product of Uprooted Dreams provides an ongoing platform on which to build respect, equality, solidarity, and dignified ways of making art and creating community. 

Click here for COMPLETE Lesson!

Resources For Parents:
Virtual Gallery
Alebrije Parent Guide
Video Tutorial
Storyboard Activity

Resources For Teachers
Lesson Plans for Teachers: Ages 5-8
Lesson Plans for Teachers: Ages 9-12
Lesson Plans for Teachers: Ages 13-18

Tejano Music History: Students will learn the history of Tejano music such as its connection to German folk music (eg. the use of an accordion), and the differences within the genre of Tejano music amongst artists such as Flaco Jiménez and Selena Quintanilla.

Watch the Video!

Download the Lesson Plan!

Digital Exhibits

Austin Studio Tours

By Big Medium (Not Available Online), 20th Anniversary group exhibition. Featured over 100+ local Austin artists! Thanks to The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Big Medium has commissioned Alexandra Robinson, Brooke Burnside, José Villalobos, and Steve Parker to create site specific work at this year’s tour hub.

La Lucha Sigue: Eastside Stories 

By Arte Texas (Not Available Online), a Group Exhibit curated by Bertha Rendon Delgado. Featuring: Mando "Tanner" Martinez, Raymond "Rage" Mendoza, Raul Valdez, Serena Tijerina, Tony Gonzales, Mark Gonzales, Ramiro Marcias, and Eli Zapata.

Sendas De Mi Vida

By Blas E. Lopez San Antonio based artist's latest exhibit was on display at the ESB-MACC from July 2nd - August 27th, 2022. "I truly believe my calling in life was to be an artist, and cannot recall a time when I wanted to be anything else. Creating art is my life, my passion….I live to paint and I paint to live..." - Blas E. Lopez

Entropy

By Mery Godigna Collet (Not Available Online) Venezuelan artist Mery Godigna Collet uses art as a tool to confront complex social issues, which she then synthesizes into concepts for the viewers. Her works of art utilize a multitude of diverse materials and she works in different media from installations, paintings, sculptures, photography, and video. She challenges her viewers by consistently modifying and utilizing new techniques and unconventional materials so one can confront the ways humans survive, cope, and deal violence or by inviting one to deeper contemplation and self-introspection.

Caminos 5th Year Anniversary

By The Caminos Teen Program (Not Available Online) 5 Years of Caminos was on display in the Community Gallery to celebrate five years/ five classes of Caminos students! Featuring past/current artwork by the teens! For more on this teen program including the current application, visit AustinTexas.gov/Caminos. You can view photos by Mari G. Hernandez of the exhibit by visiting our Facebook.

Art Comes To Life, A Retrospective

By Joe Garcia (Not Available Online) Joe Garcia III is a self taught artist, originally from Lubbock Texas. Always had art on the mind. Drawing was his passion for the first 40 years of life. An Austinite for the last 29 years working in the corporate world while continuing to produce his art. In 2003, he attended Austin community College for one semester of Drawing and design classes, he caught the art bug. Since 2003 Joe trained himself to paint in black and white acrylic followed by a leap of faith into color.

Digital Exhibit: MACC Phase 2

On View March 17-March 30
Sam Z Coronado Gallery and Online
View the Digital Exhibit! Ver en español

The purpose of this online exhibit is to inform the public about the Phase 2 of the ESB MACC. This page was produced by the ESB MACC staff in conjunction with a physical exhibit on-site in the ESB MACC Sam Z. Coronado Gallery, which will be open for public viewing for the month of March 2022. The exhibit and this webpage invite the ESB MACC community to gain an understanding of Phase 2 and contribute their programming feedback in an interactive format. 

ART OF THE BULL

Art of the Bull by Manuel Miranda 

FIGURALO

Figuralo Youth Art by Austin students

AMULETOS

Amuletos by Luis Guerra was on display in the SZC Gallery from Sept 25- Nov 27, 2021. View the Amuletos Online Exhibit and this Smithsonian handout, Three Farmworker Projects & a Mural.

COLORES DE MI ALMA

Colores de mi Alma by Amado Castillo III (Austin, TX) was on display in the Community Gallery from June-August, 2021. View the Colores de Mi Alma online exhibit, as well as this student video project.

MULTI

MULTI by Coka Treviño is a virtual exhibit curated by The Projecto's Coka Treviño which was featured in The ESB MACC's annual La Mujer celebration in Spring 2021. View the Virtual exhibition, MULTI!

21/ Veintiuno Ender Martos

21/ Veintiuno by Ender Martos is an online exhibit that premiered in Spring 2021. It is accompanied by a sculpture installation on-site at the MACC. View the exhibit online: 21/ Veintiuno.The  exhibit can be viewed on www.veintiuno.art, on the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

This virtual exhibit includes a physical compenent at the MACC. The sculpture,  "Graceful Celebration of Diversity is a 3D installation that Ender Martos produced for the prestigious TEMPO art program of the city of Austin. It is on display on the MACC grounds near the hike and bike trail.

XX Timeline at the Crossroads XX, Diana Molina

XX Timeline at the Crossroads XX by Diana Molina premiered Sept 16, 2020-November 25, 2020.

Diana Molina is an exhibiting artist and curator at the ESB Mexican American Cultural Center for Fall 2020. Her online exhibit XX Timeline at the Crossroads XX, which coincided with the release of her book, Icons and Symbols of the Borderland, can be viewed at any time on her Digital Exhibit and Programs Page and on the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

Caminos Murals

Mosaic Mural "La Mujer"

The mosaic mural, titled “La Mujer”, is in the process of becoming a permanent outdoor art installation at the ESB-MACC. Created by teens in the Caminos Teen Leadership Program, the mural honors Latinx women and serves as a powerful reminder of the transformational power of the Arts to bring youth and community together through creativity.

Caminos Program Coordinator: Frederico Geib
Artistic Mentor:  J. Muzacz

Caminos Mural (2018)

Created by students in the Caminos program in 2018, this handpainted mural at the entrance of the ESB-MACC commemorates Latinx heroic actions demonstrates a vision of global connection and world peace. Activist Dolores Huerta poses at the mural in 2018. 

Caminos Program Coordinator: Frederico Geib
Mural Artist Mentor: Raul Valdez

 

Caminos Legacy Mural (2017)

The Caminos Legacy Mural was created by Adrian Muniz, Analiza Valdez, Arnold Cordova, Jamie Martinez, Jesus Perez, Jyali Barrera, Karina Peña, Litzy Valdez, Mianiche Calhoun, Paula Monzon, Paulina Pereira, and Sarah Ruiz as a community arts mentorship project led by muralist and arts educator J. Muzacz. The teenage students in the ESB-MACC Caminos program painted a mural that celebrates the vibrant community around the ESB-MACC while showcasing their creative passion and vision for the future of Austin seen from the perspective of Latinx youth. The actual mural is simply the tip of the iceberg as this project involved dozens of hours of community interviews, historic research, and outreach. The result is a vibrant blend of ideas and feelings from long time community members, filtered through the creative lenses and originality of the twelve Caminantes of the Caminos Teen Internship Program.

Caminos Program Coordinator: Frederico Geib
Artistic Mentor:  J. Muzacz

Sculpture Archive

“Graceful Celebration of Diversity” Powder Coated Steel & colored acrylic sheet. (2021)
Ender Martos 

"The spatial relationship between viewer and object draws from my transnational story. Migration is change and contrast, but it’s also connection and sameness. I draw from my experience in hyper-structured U.S. society and the rich, organic, and vibrant fragility of my home country. My dual immersion inspired the contrast and connection that make optical illusion possible in my work. The materials aim to test the boundaries of authorship, belonging, perspective, and the self as narrative. I created eight cylinders because of their significance in Feng Shui and Chinese ideology. This number represents luck, fortune, and prosperity- all foundational ideas that form the American dream sought by many immigrants in Texas and beyond." - Ender Martos 

This sculpture was on display in the year 2020 on the MACC grounds, and has since been returned to the artist Ender Martos.

 

"Maya" Limestone (2017)
Reynaldo Alaniz

Reynaldo Alaniz was commissioned by the City of Austin to create Maya, a hand-carved limestone sculpture of an abstract female figure.  The piece was commissioned by TEMPO, the Austin Art in Public Places temporary public art program. Maya was exhibited in Austin's Edward Rendon Sr. Park in November 2017 as part of the East Austin Studio Tour, and can now be viewed in the Zócalo of the ESB-MACC on a one-year loan from the artist.

The sculpture was inspired by a Mayan figure called a Chacmool, which is a type of stone statue that has been found at archaeological sites such as the Mayan pyramid of Chichén Itzá and several Aztec sites near Mexico City. The Chacmool is a reclining figure whose head is turned completely to the side, legs raised, with a flat area on the abdomen where sacrifices were placed. There is no definitive knowledge of where and when they originated but archaeologists have associated them with the Aztec rain deity Tlaloc due to markings found on some of the Chacmools.

Maya is a hand-carved limestone sculpture that invites the viewer to consider the history of Mexico's indigenous past. The placement of the sculpture in relation to the ESB-MACC building is reminiscent of the Chacmools placed outside Mesoamerican temples. Maya isn't an exact replica of a Chacmool, but is a modern adaptation that uses simplified lines and minimal detail to evoke the presence of the ancient figure while holding its own as a contemporary art piece.

This sculpture was on display in the years 2019-2019 on the MACC grounds, and has since been returned to the artist Reyndlo Alaniz.

"Exoskeleton" Solar Hardware, Steel (2016)
Victor Pérez-Rul

Exoskeleton is a site-specific public sculpture for the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, designed by Mexican artist Victor Pérez-Rul whose artistic labor evolves around the empiric development of energy research through the multidisciplinary approach to science, technology, and art. Exoskeleton generates, stores and processes energy through its solar panels, specifically designed to produce an electromagnetic spectrum. Its relation to the environment shapes its behavior. Exoskeleton exists through a technological system in relation with the environment that enables stages of wakefulness and sleepiness, life and death, and the apparently motionless lifeless stage. "Renewable energy is key to its essence and purpose, to accomplish this collaboration with Solartec, a Mexican company specialized on solar energy. This project was accomplished thanks to the ESB-MACC, and to the donors involved: the University of Texas at Austin: Visual Arts Center, Victor Pérez-Rul and Solartec."

 

"Tejano Music Legends" (2015)
Connie Arismendi

This sculpture at the edge of the Zócalo pays tribute to local Latino musicians that were integral to Austin's music scene. The deep musical traditions and cultural contributions of the Perez and Ramos families are represented by the figures of brothers Ruben Perez & Ernest Perez, and brothers Alfonso Ramos & Ruben Ramos.  The Perez brothers are shown playing the saxophone and the Ramos brothers are engaged in song. The performers each led their own orchestra or band, and are joined by two curvilinear “stage structures” to symbolize the link between the two families. The vertical supports represent curtains on the side of the stage and a curving cut metal pattern based on a modified treble clef sits at the top and holds the names of these great families.

Indoor Features

"Uprooted Dreams" 2012
(Alebrijes)

"On permanent display in the Education Area upstairs at the ESB-MACC is Uprooted Dreams (2012), a site-specific sculptural installation that features over 19 individual, brightly colored woodcarvings, mounted in the public entrance of the Education Area. Artist Margarita Cabrera was selected to create an artwork which would engage the community in its production. "Uprooted Dreams is a work of art designed in the form of workshop production...nineteen members of Austin's immigrant community- guided by Master Artesanos, Ranulfo Sergio Ibañes and Lucia Luria Sosa, experts in the Mexican craft tradition of alebrije-created, carved and painted wooden sculptures. These pieces embodied artistic themes of uprootedness as they spoke to the transformation of people, land, and community. For the artist, artesanos, participants, and audience, the process and product of Uprooted Dreams provides an ongoing platform on which to build respect, equality, solidarity, and dignified ways of making art and creating community."   - Margarita Cabrera

 

Axolotl Aquarium
(Mexican Salamander)

The ESB-MACC houses an aquarium that is home to a very special species of salamander called the Ajolote. Their name is "Axolotl" in Nahuatl, which is an indigenous language of Central Mexico spoken by the Aztecs of Ancient Mexico and still spoken in Mexico today. Revered by the Aztecs, the axolotl is unusual among salamanders in that the adults retain large external gills and demonstrate a remarkable ability to regenerate lost body parts. The Axolotl once made its home in the interconnected lakes that filled the basin of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City now stands. But over the centuries, lakes and canals have been polluted, endangering the animal in its natural habitat. Axolotls are now being reproduced in capitivity and then reintroduced to the wild. The ESB-MACC’ s Education Department maintains a collection of 3 Axolotls that reside in an aquarium in the Raul Salinas room to inspire and educate visitors of all ages.