The Center’s Latino/a Services and the Latino/a Advisory Council announced on June 1 that they have postponed the Latin GLBT Pride music fest, entitled “Pachanga de Orgullo,” which was to take place on June 10 at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

Carolina Ramos, The Center’s Latino/a Services coordinator, said the headlining act, the B-Side Players, became unavailable less than two weeks before the event. The Center was unable to replace them and therefore the event had to be postponed, she said.

“While we are disappointed, we are clear that this is only a temporary delay of this important, culturally-affirming community event,” Ramos said. “The Center, its Latino/a Services and the Latino/a Advisory Council are committed to rescheduling the Latin music fest as soon as possible. The event’s wonderful talent is equally committed to being part of the rescheduled event. We look forward to announcing a new date for this community celebration of the diversity and influence of San Diego’s international LGBT Latino/a community.”

According to The Center’s public policy director, Jennifer Jones, a meeting of the Latino/a Advisory Council took place at The Center on May 30, where the group decided to postpone the Pachanga de Orgullo event.

“This event is one of the key fund-raisers for Latino/a Services and it is vitally important that we do everything possible to ensure its success,” Jones said. “Losing talent less than two weeks out made having a financially successful, fun and affirming event virtually impossible. This is the reason the Latino/a Advisory Council made the difficult decision to postpone the event.”

Sandra Peña-Sarmiento, spokesperson for the Save Our Centro Coalition (SOCC), confirmed to the Gay & Lesbian Times that her group contacted the B-Side Players to alert them that the Pachanga de Orgullo event was to take place at the Centro Cultural de la Raza. The SOCC has spearheaded a six-year long boycott of the Centro Cultural de la Raza for a variety of reasons, including accusations that more than $1 million in funds within the organization have been mismanaged and more than $100,000 worth of Chicano artwork has disappeared.

Peña-Sarmiento said oftentimes musicians’ bookers will not communicate the actual location of the event until the day of the show. She said since the B-Side Players have participated in the boycott in the past, they contacted the group.

“Since we knew this performer [B-Side Players] was active in the boycott, they should know they are booked for the event [at the Centro Cultural de la Raza],” she said. “What we do is just let people know what the situation is.”

Rick Hernandez, executive director of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, said individuals with practical business experience stepped in and restructured the Centro as a nonprofit organization in 1999 after the facility, which in the years prior had existed as an artist collective, was failing due to mismanagement of funds, lack of grant compliance and lack of compliance with city regulations.

“I think that part of what’s happened here is that some of the artists who were involved in the organization when it was structured as an artist collective are now feeling disenfranchised,” Hernandez said. “I think the discussion about art work – that’s a symptom of feeling disenfranchised. We have an inventory of everything that is here. The people who were in the building before were given an opportunity to collect their belongings and, at a certain point, the current leadership of the Centro approached all individuals and organizations who were making use of the facility at the time and said we are going to restructure.”

Hernandez said the Centro is entering a mediation process with the help of the National Center for Conflict Resolution, a third-party mediator, to resolve their differences with the SOCC.

“We truly hope to mend the rift so that we can combine forces and better serve the community,” he said.

Hernandez said Centro has offered a full refund of The Center’s $1,000 deposit for the event and look forward to collaborating with The Center in the future.

“As a fellow nonprofit organization, Centro Cultural de la Raza understands and respects The Center’s decision,” Hernandez said.

Peña-Sarmiento said the SOCC has contacted Jones and is working with The Center on securing another location for the event.

“We understand that The Center was misinformed by representatives of Centro regarding the status and reasons for the boycott of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, and that this affected The Center’s ability to hold an economically viable fund-raiser for one of its important programs,” Peña-Sarmiento said. “Members of the Save Our Centro Coalition are now working with The Center to create a dynamic and inclusive Latin Pride event, which will celebrate our community’s diversity, respect our dignity and work to heal the divisions created by the Centro administration. We encourage the community to support this event.”

Hernandez said he is unaware of any statements made to The Center about SOCC’s existing boycott of the Centro Cultural de la Raza.

“I can tell you, however, that the staff and board of the Centro always do our best to give honest answers to all inquiries about the history of the Centro and our many services to the community,” he said.

Jones confirmed that since the postponement, SOCC members have offered assistance with the event, and that the Latino/a Advisory Council met on June 13 to discuss rescheduling the event for late August. She said she will not have a date or venue confirmed until later this week.

“All of our entertainment, including the B-Side Players, have committed to participating in the rescheduled event as long as they are available on the date selected,” Jones said.

Peña-Sarmiento said she learned there were other performers who had declined performing at the event due to the existing boycott.

“We’re working to, of course, bring in all the performers who had turned them [Pachanga de Orgullo organizers] down before because of the location,” she said. “We’re actively working on that. We’re actually working on getting them a new site.”

Proceeds from Pachanga de Orgullo will support The Center’s Latino/a Services program, which provides coordinated case management, counseling and support groups to help hundreds of individuals and families each year.

Advanced tickets can be kept for use at the future event or they can be returned for a full refund. For more information or to obtain a refund, contact Ramos at (619) 692-2077 ext. 116 or cramos@thecentersd.org.