OXNARD : Latino Center for Culture Opens

Nadia Gonzalez said she finally has a place to sing her rancheras and warm up for plays.

The 15-year-old budding actress from Oxnard has already starred in two productions put on by a local theater company. Now she plans to add to her resume the performances she hopes to give at the new Inlakech Cultural Center in downtown Oxnard.

The center opened Monday with little fanfare in a roomy storefront at 644 S. C St.

Its purpose, teacher and co-founder Javier Gomez said, is to stir local interest in Latino culture and provide a venue for artists to display their work. Beginning this week, classes in dance and music will be taught from 3 to 7 p.m.

Gomez, 42, and his partner, Jaime Estrada, 33, an Oxnard painter, said Inlakech has been in the making for about three years. They want to use the 3,000-square-foot space as a free neighborhood center where Ventura County residents can participate in a “Chicano think tank,” Estrada said.

There was only a trickle of visitors on the center’s first day, but Gomez said he is optimistic that there is widespread interest in lessons in flamenco guitar, theater, visual arts, mariachi and Latino dance.

“Right now, there is a lack of this type of programming for the community,” Gomez said.

The shelves and walls at the center are filled with artifacts, including a sombrero, pictures of ancient Mexican dances and various Mayan figurines.

The wall also holds a photograph of Nadia in one of her performances, a personal memento for the Haydock Intermediate School eighth-grader.

Gomez said he would like to see contributions from a multicultural pool of artists. “The bottom line of the center is not to make a profit, but to provide a space for the families to bring their children so the kids can be involved in a healthy environment,” Gomez said.

The California Arts Council, a state agency that promotes participation in the arts, pays Gomez and Estrada $900 each a month to share their talents with the community. Each receives another $400 a month in cash or supplies and services from a local sponsor as part of the council’s Artist-in-Residence grant program.

Only 160 artists statewide received those funds this year, agency spokeswoman Carol Shiffman said.