CULTURAL EVENT YSU, Ohio, national groups plan Latin Arts Explosion!

YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ohio Latino Arts Association will hold its 12th annual conference April 16 and 17 in Youngstown.
Latin Arts Explosion! -- part of YSU's Fine and Performing Arts Series -- features art exhibits, music and dance workshops, performances and lectures by Latino artists.
Latin Arts Explosion! is a joint venture this year at the local, state and national levels.
The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture joined forces with OLAA and scheduled its regional conference simultaneously in Youngstown. Organizaci & oacute;n C & iacute;vica y Cultural Hispana Americana, Inc. (OCCHA), Youngstown's local Latino association, is the host organization for both events.
The conference travels to a different city in Ohio every year, said OCCHA executive director Mary Isa Garayua. Dayton, Toledo and Columbus have all hosted the conference in past years.
"It was our turn to be chosen," Garayua said.
They have been champing at the bit since the first conference in Cleveland in 1993.
"We have waited a long time to bring the OLAA conference to this part of the state," Garayua said in the OLAA spring newsletter.
"We have many Latino artists in this region who have made valuable contributions. In addition to putting on a first-class conference, we hope to showcase some of our local talent."
And they will. Several local artists and performance groups will perform on the second day, including OCCHA's own dance troupe Las Ni & ntilde;as del Caribe.
Hispanic presence
Youngstown has a substantial Latino population to draw from for this contest.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than 4,200 Latinos live in Youngstown, or about 5.2 percent of the total population.
Michele Lepore-Hagan, director of the performing arts series at YSU, speculated the growing Hispanic presence in Youngstown helped draw the conference here.
"I believe we have a growing Hispanic community," Lapore-Hagan said. "And it has a home now."
The home she refers to is the new cultural center OCCHA acquired two years ago at 3660 Shirley Road. The new building helped to centralize and organize Hispanic cultural practices in Youngstown, she said. In turn, OLAA took notice and brought the state conference here.
YSU is looking forward to a large conference, Lepore-Hagan said.
"We have 500 seats available, and we are expecting to sell all of those seats."
The Latin Arts Explosion! schedule includes several guest performers and speakers. Cuban pianist Ignacio "Nachito" Herrera and his group Puro Cubano will play the first night after a traditional Latin dinner at Stambaugh Auditorium. Dance professor James Lepore from George Mason University will give a workshop titled "Son, Mambo and Chachacha; the Afro-Cuban Roots of Salsa," on Saturday.
For more information, call OCCHA at (330) 781-1808.