About 25 years ago, Irma Varela was part of Mexico Vivo Dance Company, a Mexican folkloric group, that performed at the Winchester Cultural Center. “At that time, I imagined it would be fun to work here,” says Varela, program supervisor for the venue that’s now known as Winchester Dondero Cultural Center. “Even with the unavoidable challenges of working with a diverse community, in a government organization, it has been fun.”
Established in 1982 as a community center, Winchester became the cultural center for Clark County nine years later. The name Dondero was added after a building expansion in 2018 to honor late County Commissioner Thalia Dondero.
The center has been pivotal to Las Vegas in hosting theater, dance, music, visual art and more through the years. And since November 2017, Varela has been behind the events and activities the center hosts.
She has long been a vital part of this community for much longer, however. In 2000, Varela worked for the (now-defunct) Clark County Folk Arts program. She started the beloved Life in Death festival a year later, one of the largest Día de los Muertos celebrations in the city. She went on to serve as the Winchester’s cultural specialist from 2003 to 2011 before moving on to the Cambridge Recreation Center and then returning to Winchester in 2017.
The Weekly caught up with Varela to chat about events old and new, and how they come together.
As the primary curator of Winchester Dondero’s calendar, why do you feel these events are so important to the community? Now that we use computers and so much technology to communicate, we’re losing something. We’re losing that human touch and that closeness, I feel. So if you have a chance to sit down at a concert and feel that love that the musician is trying to share through their music, that’s a way of connecting. We need to continue those connections in a warmer way. I feel like technology can be kind of cold. In person, things have a different feel. And maybe it’s me thinking old times, but this is my perspective. Conversation and shared laughter are really important in person.
You have quite the variety of events at Winchester. How do you go about selecting them? We have long-standing relationships with many of the groups that we work with, like the Jazz Society [partnership formed with] Dan Skea. They do an annual picnic and concerts and other activities, and that’s just one example of many.
When do you typically select events? We normally plan yearly for the fiscal year, which starts in July. We’ll start thinking [beforehand about] what groups we want to bring back. Sometimes the group themselves come to me, and they say [they want to do something] and we’ll put it in the calendar.
The Life in Death festival is one of your largest events. How has that evolved through the years? When I came to Winchester, because of my love of the folk arts, I brought the Life in Death festival [over]. It was a Day of the Dead festival that I started at [Prince of Peace Catholic Church] in 2001. And when I came to Winchester [in 2003], I asked Patrick Gaffey, who was my supervisor, if I could do it here. We didn’t do it one year because of the pandemic, so we celebrated the 21st festival in November. … It’s the biggest festival we do here, … [and] the community really loves it, because it’s truly [about] community and friendship. There are a lot of people who are here for it every year. … There are so many celebrations of Day of the Dead nowadays, but Winchester’s continues to be one of the favorites in the community.
What’s a new event we can look forward to this year? Right now, we’re working on a new one called International Mother Tongue Day. It was created by UNESCO [the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] in 2000, to celebrate the many languages that people speak around the world. I’m going to try to focus on indigenous languages, so I’m trying to find out how many people speak Mixtec, Domi, Nawat … different languages like that, and perhaps other cultures that speak an indigenous language from their homeland. Mexico, in particular, used to have 167 languages, and they’re starting to get lost. But are they really lost, or did the people who speak them move away?
Which 2023 events are you most looking forward to? I’m very excited about International Mother Tongue Day on February 21 … and to see the [Eddy Sarabia Quintet] jazz concert [on February 25]. Some people argue that jazz is dying, so to see new people—a younger generation—taking it on and pushing forward [is exciting], because jazz is American music 100%.
What are your goals for Winchester’s future? Well, right now it’s time for the next generation. My coworkers are young, and they have a different energy—not that I feel old; that’s not the case—but to let those voices be heard, … My goal is that they continue Winchester when I retire, and that Winchester continues to be such a vital part of our cultural community.
Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!
