Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA)
Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) is a collaborative partnership between the Chicana/o Studies Department at the University of California, Davis and the greater Woodland community. TANA offers a fully functioning silkscreen studio, Chicano/Latino Arts exhibition space, and a teaching center for the arts. Through exhibiting, printing, and teaching, TANA cultivates the cultural and artistic life of the community, viewing the arts as essential to a community's development and well-being.
In 2009, Malaquias Montoya and Carlos Francisco Jackson founded Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA) in Woodland, California, as an extension of the silkscreen printmaking program in the Chicana/o Studies Department at UC Davis. Meaning “art workshop of the new dawn” or the “new beginning,” Montoya and Jackson envisioned TANA as a transformational space where art and culture could be used to teach and inspire. Montoya, now a professor emeritus, and Jackson, now an associate professor and chair of the Chicana/o Studies Department, worked for six years to establish TANA. They networked with community leaders, applied for and were awarded numerous grants, and worked with the city of Woodland and the university to create a lasting and vibrant community-based art center.
The Chicana/o Studies Department at UC Davis has a history of scholarship and promotion of community health and empowerment. TANA is a continuation of this history, developing an authentic and organic link between UC Davis and the greater Woodland community. The city of Woodland is the most natural partner for the community-based arts instruction and scholarship offered through Chicana/o Studies at UC Davis. The human resources from the community of Woodland and institutional resources from UC Davis collectively promote the role of art and culture as a viable community-building strategy.
