In 1989, a group of Latino-identified artists and administrators gathered in the historic and culturally rich Westside of San Antonio, Texas. They shared a vision: an advocacy organization that would uplift and resource the Latino arts sector across the United States and Puerto Rico, with San Antonio serving as its base and headquarters. Now, thirty-five years later, the National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) continues to be a beacon of light for Latinx/é artists, cultural workers, and arts administrators. NALAC’s longevity and growth are thanks to its many stakeholders, including individual donors, government agency grants, corporate partnerships, and private foundations.

Today, NALAC is the nation’s premier nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field. Over the years, NALAC has been entrusted as an intermediary grant maker, charged with distributing millions of dollars to organizations founded by, with, and for Latinx/é communities. Through annual open calls for grant applications and highly competitive fellowships in leadership development institutes, NALAC meets its mission of promoting, advancing, developing, and cultivating Latinx/é arts and culture. NALAC also meets its mission by serving as a leader in generating data about the under-researched and under-resourced Latinx/é arts and culture field. NALAC recognizes that there is a significant lack of research literature on the subject; therefore, the organization continues to work toward a more equitable arts ecosystem in which Latinx/é history and culture are better understood, recognized, preserved, and funded.

Thirty years ago, NALAC conducted a study of 43 organizations and, in 1998, published a report titled “Latino Arts and Cultural Organizations in the United States: A Historical Survey and Current Assessment.” The research focused on the history, development, current conditions, and prospects of the surveyed organizations to document the information for further analysis and synthesis. As the first-ever national study of its kind, the NALAC survey and assessment addressed the lack of factual data and general information about Latinx/é arts and cultural organizations. Methods included raw field data from questionnaire surveys, audio-recorded personal interviews, and other material such as videos, publications, and photographs.

Continuing with its need to inform the field, in 2019 NALAC implemented a new national assessment and published “State of Latino Arts & Culture Organizations,” which helped compile updated national organizational information for a public directory available on the NALAC website. In late 2023, NALAC partnered with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, with support from the Wallace Foundation, to replicate and expand on the 2019 study. This in-progress two-year research expansion project advances the aim of raising the visibility of Latinx/é arts and organizations across multiple disciplines and Latinidades. 

Today, NALAC is on the verge of completing and publishing the findings of this latest research effort, now under the title “National Study of Latinx/é Arts and Culture Organizations, 2024-2025.” The field study will elevate NALAC’s position within the sector and ensure it has the information necessary to understand and support the national Latinx/é arts and culture network, as well as serve organizations working on the ground. This current research is grounded in the conceptual framework that Latinx/é arts and culture organizations are unique and defined by distinctive characteristics that have historically caused barriers to funding. Through its extensive network, NALAC identified and surveyed a larger and more inclusive sample of organizations using a bilingual web-based survey with customized questions and an analytical plan aligned with the study´s conceptual framework. Survey topics assessed the strength of the sector by inquiring about 1) organizational characteristics to create profiles of the sample organization, 2) impacts throughout recent years as of 2020, 3) sustainability and organizational future planning, and 4) philanthropic support and financial health.

The 2024-2025 national survey closed on April 14, 2025, and is now in the analysis phase. Over the summer of 2025, the research team will begin building dissemination tools and schedule the release of the interactive data tools. NALAC also plans to engage regional dissemination partners.

Due in Fall 2025, the study findings will ensure that Latinx/é arts and culture organizations are represented in timely national discussions on policy, funding, and inclusion. NALAC will create targeted outreach strategies to disseminate the findings to a broad audience of stakeholders including funders, government entities, educators, and others. In doing so, NALAC will share what has been learned and catalyze conversations about how we, as a broader field and network, can address the study’s findings and recommendations, as well as create innovative solutions to current and future barriers. Additionally, NALAC will develop an interactive website and a digital advocacy toolkit. The tools will allow stakeholders to navigate the data and effectively use the information to take action. The new navigation tools will include interactive maps, data visualizations, infographics, and database inquiries. These valuable data tools will give Latinx/é leaders a voice and a deeper, collective understanding of their operations and needs. This, in turn, can lead to programs, services, resources, and policies geared toward stability and growth.

For more information about NALAC and its programs, please visit www.nalac.org. The NALAC Research contact is Lucila Lagace, research manager, llagace@nalac.org; Penny Rodriguez serves as director of communications, prodriguez@nalac.org

About the author

Research Manager Lucila Lagace leads research administration and program evaluation at NALAC. She is an experienced nonprofit and public administrator with thirty-five years of experience building the evaluation capacity of organizations across the U.S. and Central America.