Jose Marti Cultural Center

“Day and night,
I always dream with open eyes.”
― Jose Martí

For more than four decades, the José Martí Cultural Center has been the center of activity, although it is already in the center of a bustling area. Just a few steps from the intersection of Reforma and Avenida Hildalgo, and at the top of the Hidalgo Metro station, there simply is no better place for a community center. It is practically in the Alameda Central , and the Centro Cultural Martí Cultural has a continuous program of activities: music such as jazz and blues, a harmonica festival, neighborhood fairs, film screenings and poetry.

Opened in 1976, the space provides a much needed international presence with a focus on Latin American peoples.

Jose Julian Marti Perez was a Cuban activist, poet, philosopher, journalist, and publisher. Today, he is a national hero in Cuba for the role he played in liberating the country from Spanish rule. He is also an important figure in the always intoxicating world of Latin American literature.

Today the José Martí Cultural Center includes a library, theater, art alley, and gallery and events tend to be packed. The program, which can be reviewed on  the Facebook page, often includes events that spill out of the building itself and commonly trips downtown are combined with a trip to the nearby Diego Rivera Mural Museum, the Museum of Popular Art, el The Laboratorio Arte Alameda and of course, Alameda itself. Many people will visit it simply to see the incredible mural, Canto a Martí (Song to Martí), at the back of the main hall.