Families and students look at the displayed artwork at the Latino Student and Faculty Art & Culture event at 1104 S. Wabash Ave. on Friday, May 16, 2025.
Around 60 students, staff and faculty gathered to celebrate at the Latino Art and Culture event on the first floor of the Conaway Center the morning of Manifest..
The event was a collaborative effort by Latino Alliance, La Alianza, Trio and the Hispanic Journalists of Columbia.
Junior film and television major Diego Madrigal attended the event to support his fellow student filmmakers.
“I just love to see how students get to their projects, their artwork and films,” Madrigal said. “This year specifically is very important because I’m screening one of my films.”
Ana Lara, a junior fine arts major, participated in the event as an exhibiting artist, showcasing lithographs exploring colonialism in Latin America and her personal connection to European heritage. Originally from Mexico, Lara said she also attended to support the celebration of diverse Latino voices and cultural identities.
“I really think it’s important to highlight Latino voices and different heritages,” Lara said. “There’s more to it than just a general Hispanic culture,”
Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David, one of the speakers at the event, highlighted how the college has made strides in including the Latino community. Columbia is now a Hispanic-serving institution, with more than a quarter of the study body who identify as Hispanic.
“We want to be able to really create an environment that is truly serving all of our students, and in particular, making sure that we are focused on the fact that today, a large portion of our students are from Hispanic or Latino backgrounds,” David said during her talk.
She emphasized the importance of representation and storytelling as a way to empower students and reflect their diverse experiences.
“We want our students to be confident that they’re going to be able to tell their stories – and being able to tell stories through music, through film, through writing, through whatever discipline they might say here that touches both themselves and the hearts of the broader community is incredibly important.”
Marcelo Sabates, a philosophy and Latin American studies professor in the School of Communication and Culture, emphasized the importance of recent cultural programming tied to Columbia’s growing Latino student population.
With Latino students now making up roughly 30% of the college community, Sabates said that a strong network has formed among students, faculty, staff and alumni in recent years. The college’s new designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Fall 2022 made this the ideal time to celebrate that growth through dedicated events.
“These kinds of events and academic offerings are the way for our students to identify with the curriculum, to see themselves represented and to find role models in Latino faculty,” Sabates said.
Looking ahead, he hopes the college will expand its Latino-focused programming beyond Manifest, suggesting a full-day event during Hispanic Heritage Month to showcase more music, art, and student voices.
Elio Leturia, associate professor in the School of Communication and Culture, emphasized the significance of Latino faculty coming together for the first time under the newly formed Latino Alliance group. He said the initiative not only fosters support among faculty but also strengthens representation and connection with the college’s growing Latino student population.
“We have very capable faculty that can bond, that can represent, that can understand those students better because we share similar cultures,” Leturia said.
Reflecting on the event, Leturia noted the vibrant atmosphere and steady turnout, calling it a celebration of both shared and diverse cultural identities within the Latino community. He encouraged graduating students to embrace their bilingual and bicultural strengths, reminding them that these qualities open doors.
“They should not only be proud but use those skills, hone those skills, in order to be more marketable,” Leturia said.
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
