Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztli

The Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztli is a cultural center and educational institution in Mexico City, located in the Tlalpan borough and administered by the Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México (Mexico City Secretariat of Culture). It occupies a site in the Isidro Fabela neighborhood that was originally the Cine IMAN Pirámide, a cinema built in 1976, together with adjacent land where a shopping center was under construction. The land was donated by the Departamento del Distrito Federal to the Institución Mexicana de Asistencia a la Niñez (IMAN). The recent founding of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México (OFCM), an initiative promoted by Carmen Romano, led to the conversion of the cinema into a concert hall where the OFCM could perform, and the shopping-center structure into a music-teaching center. The converted cinema was inaugurated as the Auditorio Ollin Yoliztli on 27 November 1979 by Carmen Romano. In 1986 additional areas of the cultural center were inaugurated, built to house music and dance educational centers that could be in contact with the professional artists performing in the auditorium. Among the areas built were facilities for the Schools of Initiation to Music and Dance, the Vida y Movimiento advanced school, and the Integral Art school, the Sala Hermilo Novelo, the Andrea Palma cinema room, galleries, a bookstore, the La Escala restaurant, a cafeteria, and a parking lot. In 1994, at the initiative of the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CNCA), two civil organizations were created to take charge of the center's schools and educational programs: Conjunto Cultural Ollin Yoliztli A.C. and, in 1998, Orquesta Juvenil Mexicana, A.C. These organizations sustained the center's educational work for several years. In 2000, following the return to democracy in Mexico City and the creation of the Instituto de Cultura de la Ciudad de México—today the Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México—the Government of the Federal District asked the CNCA to return the center, a process that brought a legal dispute lasting several years. Over the decades the center fell into deep deterioration and has undergone various renovations, including work on the Sala Silvestre Revueltas in 2002; in 2017, 50 million Mexican pesos were again invested to remodel the center, a situation that led the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México to seek a new venue during the works. The Sala Silvestre Revueltas was refurbished by the same architect who converted the cinema into a hall, Eduardo Saad Eljure. Today the center is the seat of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, the Coro de la Ciudad de México, the Banda de Música de la Secretaría de Cultura, and the Banda Sinfónica de la Ciudad de México, among other ensembles. The center has 18,000 square meters of construction dedicated to the dissemination of art and culture and to stimulating education in music and dance. It offers everything from courses and workshops to higher studies such as a bachelor's degree in music, serving more than 2,200 people. Its spaces include the Sala Silvestre Revueltas (concert hall), the Sala Hermilo Novelo (aula magna for the Vida y Movimiento music school and seat of the Orquesta Típica de la Ciudad de México), a Documentation Center and Reading Room (library, sound library, video library, and the Marco Antonio Anguiano classroom), lutherie and instrument-repair workshops for strings, winds, and piano, and the Libro Club Ollin Yoliztli. The center integrates several arts-education schools: the Escuela de Iniciación a la Música y a la Danza (founded 1981), the Escuela de Música Vida y Movimiento (founded 1979, offering a music degree with 19 instrumental specialties), and the Escuela de Danza Contemporánea (founded 1999).

The Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztli originated on a site in the Isidro Fabela neighborhood of Tlalpan, Mexico City, where the Cine IMAN Pirámide was built in 1976, alongside adjacent land where a shopping center was under construction. The land had been donated by the Departamento del Distrito Federal to the Institución Mexicana de Asistencia a la Niñez (IMAN). The recent founding of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México (OFCM), an initiative promoted by Carmen Romano, motivated the conversion of the cinema into a concert hall where the OFCM could give concerts, and the shopping-center structure into a music-teaching center. The converted cinema was inaugurated as the Auditorio Ollin Yoliztli on 27 November 1979 by Carmen Romano. In 1986, additional areas of the cultural center were inaugurated, built to house music and dance educational centers that could be in contact with the professional artists performing in the auditorium. Among the areas built were the facilities of the Schools of Initiation to Music and Dance, the Vida y Movimiento advanced school, and the Integral Art school, the Sala Hermilo Novelo, the Andrea Palma cinema room, galleries, a bookstore, the La Escala restaurant, a cafeteria, and a parking lot. In 1994, at the initiative of the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CNCA), two civil organizations were constituted to take charge of the center's schools and educational programs: Conjunto Cultural Ollin Yoliztli A.C. and, in 1998, Orquesta Juvenil Mexicana, A.C. These organizations sustained the center's educational work for several years. In 2000, following the return to democracy in Mexico City and the constitution of the Instituto de Cultura de la Ciudad de México—today the Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México—the Government of the Federal District asked the CNCA to return the center, a process that brought a legal dispute lasting several years. Over the decades the center fell into deep deterioration and has undergone various renovations, including work on the Sala Silvestre Revueltas in 2002; in 2017, 50 million Mexican pesos were again invested to remodel the center, a situation that led the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México to seek a new venue during the works. The Sala Silvestre Revueltas was refurbished by the same architect who converted the cinema into a hall, Eduardo Saad Eljure. Today the center is the seat of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, the Coro de la Ciudad de México, the Banda de Música de la Secretaría de Cultura, and the Banda Sinfónica de la Ciudad de México, among other ensembles.

• 2017

  50 million Mexican pesos invested to remodel the center; OFCM sought a new venue during works.

• 2013

  Escuela de Mariachi Ollin Yoliztli Garibaldi founded in Plaza Garibaldi.

• 2006

  Escuela de Música Del Rock a la Palabra founded in Coyoacán.

• 2002

  Sala Silvestre Revueltas renovated.

• 2000

  Government of the Federal District requested return of the center from CNCA, leading to a multi-year legal dispute.

• 1999

  Escuela de Danza Contemporánea founded.

• 1998

  Orquesta Juvenil Mexicana, A.C. constituted.

• 1994

  Conjunto Cultural Ollin Yoliztli A.C. constituted at the initiative of the CNCA.

• 1986

  Additional areas of the cultural center inaugurated, including schools, Sala Hermilo Novelo, cinema room, galleries, bookstore, restaurant, cafeteria, and parking.

• 1981

  Escuela de Iniciación a la Música y a la Danza founded.

• 1979

  Converted cinema inaugurated as the Auditorio Ollin Yoliztli on 27 November by Carmen Romano; Escuela de Música Vida y Movimiento founded.

• 1976

  Cine IMAN Pirámide built on the site in the Isidro Fabela neighborhood.

A public cultural center and arts-education hub in Mexico City, combining professional performance venues with formal music and dance training from initiation to degree level.

• Escuela de Iniciación a la Música y a la Danza

  Founded in 1981, serves children in music, classical and contemporary dance.

• Escuela de Música Vida y Movimiento

  Founded in 1979, offers a bachelor's degree in music with 19 instrumental specialties.

• Escuela de Danza Contemporánea

  Founded in 1999, trains professional technicians and higher university technicians in contemporary dance.

• Escuela de Música Del Rock a la Palabra

  Located in Coyoacán, founded in 2006, offers higher education dedicated to rock and its subgenres.

• Escuela de Danza de la Ciudad de México

  Located in Miguel Hidalgo borough.

• Escuela de Mariachi Ollin Yoliztli Garibaldi

  Located in Plaza Garibaldi, founded in 2013; the only school in Mexico dedicated to mariachi, offering upper-secondary level training.

• Programa de Orquestas Juveniles y Coros de la Ciudad de México "Fernando Lozano"

  Educational program for ages 8 to 18 in orchestral and choral groups across the 16 boroughs of Mexico City.

1. 1Wikidata: Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztliwikidata.org
2. 2Wikipedia (es): Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztlies.wikipedia.org
3. 3Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México – Centro Cultural Ollin Yoliztlicultura.cdmx.gob.mx