As Omaha’s vibrant Latinx culture flourishes, Casa de la Cultura stands at the heart of it all, connecting generations through art, music, and community.
“Those early years of trying to survive off the arts and teaching, I was teaching all over the Midwest. If I got a gig making $300, I’d drive down to Kansas City.” This may seem like a surprising quote from someone with a title like “Founder and CEO,” but Marcos Eduardo Mora Barrientos is anything but typical. To understand this leader’s drive and inspiration, you have to return to the 1920s when Marcos’ family joined the South Omaha art scene.
Over the past century, the Barrientos family has become locally known for their musical talents: Marcos’ grandfather was a musician, and some of his aunts and uncles sang and danced. Their passions became his passions: At the age of seven, he started his performance career as a dancer. In high school, he learned to play music and in college, he joined a mariachi band. After college, Marcos was generous with his talent, teaching a student mariachi group, Mariachi Las Estrellitas, for several years.
If you don’t know the name Casa de la Cultura, you likely know the organization’s marquee Omaha event: Cinco de Mayo. This three-day festival is regionally famous for its food, music, and lively parade that runs along South 24th Street. Yet, Cinco de Mayo is only one room in the house that is Casa de la Cultura. The building blocks of Casa de la Cultura have been around since the 1920s when South Omahans began hosting Mexican festivals. These celebrations were organized by families (including the Barrientos family) who volunteered their time and traditions. Like any good tradition, these celebrations were passed down to each generation.
The largest festival, Cinco de Mayo, was adopted by different organizations throughout the years: In the 1970s, it was hosted by the Chicano Awareness Center (now Latino Center of the Midlands) before moving to the South Omaha Business Association in the 2000s. Then, in the 2010s, the community decided Cinco de Mayo needed a new permanent home. Enter community leader and descendant of one of those original 1920s families, Marcos. He jumped at the opportunity to build this cultural hub, establishing Casa de la Cultura as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2018.
Before Marcos was an established South Omaha arts leader, he was a groundbreaking marketer. As an undergraduate student, he started the successful marketing firm ABM Enterprises. With this firm, Marcos was able to reach untapped Spanish-fluent readers, creating and distributing Spanish language publications, including the first Spanish Yellow Pages in Nebraska.
With the 105-year anniversary of Mexican festivals in Omaha, Marcos is thinking big and going back to his marketing roots. He’s promoting Cinco de Mayo in towns within a day’s drive of Omaha, from Lincoln and Kansas City to a new market: Chicago. If you haven’t had a chance to make it down to 24th and M Street, you might not know that Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration is quite big. In fact, it’s one of Nebraska’s largest festivals, with crowds soaring to 200,000 enthusiastic attendees over the celebratory weekend.
All their success hasn’t gone unnoticed: In 2023, the Nebraska Tourism Commission awarded Marcos, and Casa de la Cultura by extension, the Henry Fonda Award. According to their website, visitnebraska.com, this is “the state’s highest tourism award.”
Beyond the accolades and attention of Cinco de Mayo, Casa de la Cultura offers much more to South Omaha. They are what they say: a home of culture. Casa is dedicated to empowering families and youth, promoting community, and celebrating culture. One of the ways they empower youth is through scholarship opportunities: Since 2005, they have awarded more than $335,000 to Latinx students. For those already in college, they offer internships where students get hands-on experience with bilingual marketing campaigns. They’re also the group behind Señorita Omaha, a personal growth and confidence-building opportunity for young Latina women and girls.
Besides Casa de la Cultura’s extensive list of programs and highly effective marketing campaigns, they also promote culture through word of mouth. Marcos is passionate about reframing the story of South Omaha, stating that 24th Street is one of the busiest and most vibrant districts in Omaha. He attributes this to the fact that some small towns do not have their own Latinx main street and believes visitors stop in South Omaha to find a piece of the rich culture. That culture could include wandering into a local bakery for some pan dulce or getting a haircut in Spanish, all things you can readily find on 24th Street.
Marcos wants to see more visitors flock to South Omaha, including Omahans visiting from other parts of town. To draw a new local crowd, Casa de la Cultura is hosting a reoccurring networking event titled “Mi Casa Su Casa.” The name literally means “My house is your house” and is culturally thought of as “Make yourself at home.” The event invites people to gather, enjoy some food, and mingle with South Omaha leaders.
Marcos believes in the allure (and culinary delights) of his culture, remarking that first-time visitors might be inclined to return. “Get a little taste of the culture,” he says, “and maybe hey, you’ll come down again.” Whether you make the trip for a large event like Cinco de Mayo or pop into a venue and listen to some live Latin music, there’s often an opportunity to take in the culture. Or as Marcos succinctly puts it, “explore a little bit and come down to South Omaha.” ◆
