LA AVENIDA

La Avenida is a multi-phased project designed to revitalize the Alum Rock Avenue Corridor located in the Mayfair region of East San José. Learn about our capital campaign.

For SOAC, a cultural district creates more opportunities for current residents and businesses to prosper in their communities. In addition, visitors, residents, and creatives will explore and experience culturally rich landscapes with diverse offerings.

SOAC is well-positioned to lead the effort because of its unique set of characteristics and successes:

• The Mexican Heritage Plaza, its infrastructure, and the team.

• Has been central to the arts, culture, and activism in East San José for nearly 25 years.

• A successful history of producing cultural festivals that bring residents and businesses together while drawing visitors from other parts of the city and region.

• Has built a deep network of strong partnerships and relationships with shared values that can be mobilized to collaborate on initiatives that support the health and economic viability of East San José residents from an arts and cultural perspective.

• Can combine a cultural enterprise and a cultural consumption-focused district.

• Has the funding pipeline and diversification to support a thriving Cultural District effort.

BACKGROUND AND LOOKING AHEAD

In the first ten years, SOAC focused on what happened inside the walls of the Plaza. As SOAC enters its second decade of programming, it turns its perspective more external beyond La Plaza’s walls. With a refined revenue model that anchors Community Development and as a trusted neighbor, SOAC has shown an ability to lead consistent, ongoing, and stable programming. Now, SOAC seeks to influence the built environment to establish the city’s first cultural district with La Plaza at its center. SOAC is using social purpose real estate as an enduring and progressive strategy to build a destination in East San Jose for preservation, activism, creativity, and cultures. A cultural district, driven by an arts and cultural institution located in the heart of its community, speaks to:

• The preservation of cultures, traditions, and identities.

• The opportunity to fuel the local economy, including the creation of jobs and the development of a homegrown workforce through active place-keeping

• The shift in decision-making power in the neighborhood to preserve cultures and traditions via property ownership.

And so, SOAC is stewarding the very first Cultural District for the City of San José and Santa Clara County. By leading this charge, SOAC reinforces that the arts and culture have a role in addressing systemic inequities while also providing solutions. This process is not only for the betterment of East San José (Mayfair/Plata Arroyo Neighborhood) but will allow us to define it for other areas and neighborhoods operating as cultural districts without the accompanying recognition of a formal designation.