Esperanza Peace and Justice Center

In 1987 a group of women of color, queer and straight, born and raised in San Antonio, imagined a place where women of color and their allies, community-based organizations, activists, cultural workers and scholars could meet, discuss issues, and take action against all forms of oppression. Out of these dreams, with time and money carefully drawn from lives already burdened, Esperanza was born. Over 26 years Esperanza has grown into a formidable national leader in combining community arts with social justice advocacy. 

Following the first ever lesbian/gay art exhibit in Texas, Esperanza was evicted from our rental space in 1993. Thereafter, we purchased a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building, paid off in six years through community fundraising efforts.

In 1997, the City of San Antonio cut all of our funding beacause our programming was considered "TOO POLITICAL" in their minds. We filed a lawsuit and in 2001 we won a federal lawsuit against the City, placing Esperanza and San Antonio at the forefront of the national grassroots struggle to defend cultural expression. This was the first U.S. case addressing race and ethnicity in public arts funding and the first case asserting rights of cultural integrity for minority communities within U.S. law. 

We program ground breaking cultural arts events in this space. For almost 28 years, the Esperanza Center has created a safe space for anyone and everyone who has ever considered themselves "other." We value women, people of color, youth, queers, immigrants, elders, and working and low income people.