CAO Tiempo Nuevo

The CAO Tiempo Nuevo is officially the Tiempo Nuevo Center for Arts and Skills. It was reclaimed by the community who preferred this to a planned solid waste management facility. It started out in the late 1990s as a sports center. It still offers some fields and training rooms. But in 2006, it was rehabbed as a full-fledged center for arts and crafts. It’s administered by the Tlalpan local government, but all the programming is by, for, and about the people of Tlalpan, and especially the local community of the surrounding Hidalgo neighborhood.

Today, it’s one of the most important offline sites in Tlalpan. With frequent concerts and exhibitions, the people also organize classes, lectures, and outings into the Bosque de Tlalpan and to other places further afield. Like many of these kinds of community centers, the CAO operates as an important childcare facility, and provides space for women, young people and anyone who wants to make something more out of their community.

That community began arriving here in the 1950s with the opening of the Picacho-Ajusco highway. Families eked out an existence here among the volcanic stone and the plants that still cover most of the Bosque to the north. But the neighborhood only got formally laid out and real services after 1965. Over the intervening 50+ years, the four sections of colonia Miguel Hidalgo have grown to be one of the most important in this part of Tlalpan. And that’s nearly three generations later.

The CAO Tiempo Nuevo helps to keep the community anchored and growing with at least part of each day. The slate of programs carried out through the Center include dance, performance, music, and sports, as well as some programs just to keep the kids busy.

Hours: daily, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.