About PRAA

MISSION:

The Puerto Rican Arts Alliance is dedicated to preserving Puerto Rican culture by maintaining our traditions, promoting our arts, providing educational opportunities in arts programming, and cultivating pride in our heritage for future generations.

HISTORY:

PRAA was founded in 1998 to increase awareness, knowledge and access to the arts by the Puerto Rican community and to provide a venue for emerging artists and musicians to showcase their talents. Initial programs served the near northwest side, an area whose population is 75% Latino, 15% African American, and 10% White. Today, PRAA programs serve metropolitan Chicago and the Midwest and draw audience members from as far away as New York and California.

Over its operating history, PRAA has consistently delivered high-quality programs and events to Chicago's neighborhoods. Each experience has been crafted to promote the following four principles:

• Preserve and promote the art, culture and traditions of Puerto Rico 
• Promote Inter-cultural understanding and appreciation
• Reinforce Puerto Rican intergenerational understanding
• Instill ethnic pride within the Puerto Rican community
  
  

VISION:

Since its humble beginnings in the home of a volunteer, PRAA has become a major broker of Puerto Rican arts by organizing art exhibits, performances and arts-related educational programs.

PRAA is more than a symbol of cultural expression for hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans in Chicago. It is a not-for-profit multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to promoting the richness and diversity found in the Puerto Rican culture and its native Taíno Indian, Spanish and West African roots. PRAA prides itself on presenting a wide variety of art forms and educational services including music, dance, visual arts and theater produced by local Puerto Rican talent. PRAA actively promotes the artistic expression of the Puerto Rican community and seeks to preserve it for future generations. Through a wide variety of programs, PRAA reaches out to the Puerto Rican community and beyond.

The PRAA strongly encourages and promotes cross cultural connections among other ethnic groups and diverse audiences throughout the city and nearby states. We accomplish this through our programs and various organizational partnerships and collaborative efforts.