La CASA: The Center for Arts, Self-determination and Activism in Boston.
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
When La CASA: The Center for Arts, Self-determination and Activism fully opens to the public in Boston on Friday, May 15, 2026, the 26,435 square foot, four-story building will be the largest Latino cultural center in New England. The grand opening will be followed by a full weekend of events including an inaugural concert, tours of the inaugural gallery exhibition by Puerto Rican artist Antonio Martorell, and community open house activities.
After its opening weekend, La CASA will serve as a vibrant hub for creative expression, cultural celebration, and community-building; the city and region's preeminent and permanent home for Latino arts, culture, and community empowerment.
La CASA was developed by IBA–Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción–a nationally recognized affordable housing developer and community development corporation. “Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción†translates to English as “Boricua Tenants in Action.†“Boricua†are people born in Puerto Rico.
Established in 1968 in Boston's South End to address displacement of low-income families due to urban development, IBA offers affordable housing and supportive programming to increase social and economic mobility, including early education, youth development, financial empowerment, resident services, and arts programs.
The arts have always been central to IBA.
“Arts, from the very beginning, have been a critical community development tool for IBA; we not only are an arts producer and promoter, but we also integrate the arts in all of our programs, from early education to our youth development program to our elderly and resident services,†Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of IBA, told me via video interview. “We see arts as a very important tool for engaging people, for engaging communities, for inviting people to come in, to start a conversation, to start a level of engagement and to build trust. For us, art is not an accessory, it’s part of the DNA of this organization and the work that IBA does in building strong, resilient, engaged, and healthy communities.â€
IBA's conviction to the inseparability arts and community has deep roots in Latinx societies.
The connection traces back to the Chicano Movement in the 1970s and how it made art, community, and activism one in the same. Those artists and organizers looked to Los Tres Grandes–“the three greats†of Mexican modernism: Diego Rivera (1886-1957), Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), and David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974). To illustrator and cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913).
Los Tres Grandes used public murals, prints, and paintings, and Posada used widely distributed political cartoons, in support of democracy. Artwork legible to everyday people that could be cheaply produced, widely distributed, and used as calls to action.
“In this time in which a lot of communities are feeling under attack, and in this time in which there’s a lot of economic uncertainty and economic struggles, we see La CASA as a hub that will provide opportunities, social and economic opportunities, for the families that we serve, for low and moderate income families in Boston,†Calderón-Rosado explained. “This building will provide IBA opportunities to continue to grow, to deepen our impact, and to be here for generations to come, for the next set of leaders, of artists, and activists.â€
A Missing Piece In Boston's Arts Puzzle
Mural by Alvin “Acóma” Colón inside La CASA: The Center for Arts, Self‑determination, and Activism in Boston.
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
In addition to an art gallery and creative space, La CASA will house all of IBA's operations except for early childhood education. With a $33 million investment—supported by public and private partners, including a $12.5 million capital campaign—the center will serve as a centralized hub for IBA's programs and a cultural anchor for the region's rapidly growing Latino population.
La CASA more than doubles IBA's functional space. The center features a total of six multipurpose spaces for community gatherings and events, arts performances and exhibitions, and educational programming.
“It was a great opportunity to think bigger about what the space would be and look like, and what the possibilities of expanding were, not just for the arts, but to host all of IBA's functions and programs and property management and housing, and at the same time house a much bigger arts facility, both for performance arts and visual arts,†Calderón-Rosado said.
Under the leadership of Mayor Michelle Wu, the first woman and first person of color chosen as Boston's mayor when she was initially elected in 2021, the City has transformed the way arts and culture are supported and created.
With initiatives like Boston Family Days, doors to Boston’s world-class cultural institutions have been opened to more than 60,000 local kids and their families. In Brighton, the City secured 290 North Beacon Street to create 40,000-square-feet of affordable music rehearsal/recording studio space alongside deeply affordable public housing. With the launch of Un-monument—the largest-ever investment in public arts programming in Boston's history—and the first Boston Public Art Triennial held in 2025, Boston is making its mark as a global leader in public art.
The City of Boston has repositioned thinking about culture to take it from the end of civic policy discussions, to integrating it in how policy is shaped at the outset. From economic development to long-term planning reform, culture now has a place at the table. Similar to climate change or diversity, how any and every city office and project in Boston operates and moves forward increasingly goes through an arts and culture perspective. Arts at the forefront, not as an afterthought. Wu made Boston's Chief of Arts and Culture a cabinet level position.
Arts and culture as essential, as central to the success, vibrancy, and quality of life in Boston. As central as affordable housing, public transportation, public education, clean air and water, and public safety–and arts and culture as important tools toward addressing those challenges.
There was a hole, however.
“While Boston is very engaged in arts and culture, there’s a missing link around promoting Latino arts and artists, both within the city and in the region, so La CASA will fill that void,†Calderón-Rosado said. “For us, it's not only an honor–we’re very proud of that –but a responsibility to make sure that we help the City continue meeting its goals around culture and cultural engagement by bringing La CASA to life.â€
The Church
Stained glass repurposed from the historic church building that previously resided on the property La CASA: The Center for Arts, Self‑determination, and Activism in Boston now occupies.
Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
IBA purchased La CASA's site at 85 West Newton Street in the historic Villa Victoria neighborhood in 1980 and operated the former church there as a cultural center and preschool. In 2018, it was determined that the building posed a threat to public safety, and the city allowed its demolition. The loss of this historic structure left a void in the Villa Victoria community and the urban fabric of the South End.
La CASA fills it.
“The old building had a tremendous significance for our community and for this neighborhood and for the city, and we wanted to honor the site and what it has meant historically for the community, it was a church that was marked not only by a faith community, but by a community full of activists, social activists,†Calderón-Rosado explained. “When IBA acquired the church, that continued, not as much as the faith community, but as a very engaged and activist community.â€
La CASA nods to the old church in multiple ways, most prominently, stained glass.
“We were able to preserve some of the stained-glass windows within a dedicated space that will honor that long history of faith, activism, community, building, joy, culture, arts,†Calderón-Rosado said. “The stained-glass windows gallery creates a space for reflection and a space for honoring the history of the building. It creates this aura of you are almost in a sacred space.â€
Original terracotta tiles from the church have been reused along with its granite steps being incorporated into the new building's façade.
“La CASA creates this wonderful opportunity for our mission to continue to thrive, to continue using the arts not only as a way to celebrate our history, our culture, our contributions to the city, but also as an important tool to build a thriving, vibrant, healthy, engaged community,†Calderón-Rosado added.
