Our Story
Magnolia Park Arts & Community (MPAC) is a Houston-based arts nonprofit dedicated to the history, culture, and creative legacy of Magnolia Park — Houston's historic first barrio and first Latino neighborhood.
Founded by artist Jesse E. Rodriguez and lifelong community organizer JoAnna Rodriguez, MPAC transforms art into a tool for cultural education, neighborhood pride, and community empowerment.
Through La Casita de Colores, public art initiatives, exhibitions, oral histories, youth programs, and La Escuelita de Magnolia Park, MPAC creates culturally rooted spaces where Mexican American and Chicano history are celebrated, taught, and carried forward for future generations.
As gentrification and displacement reshape Houston, MPAC works to ensure that the stories, traditions, artists, families, and lived experiences of Magnolia Park are not erased — but honored and remembered.
For MPAC, art is more than visual expression. It becomes education, healing, identity, and a bridge connecting generations through shared culture and collective memory.
Art is the start.