Casa de la Cultura: Open Mic Night

Casa de la Cultura is hosting an open mic night, ¡Cuéntame!, at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center on Friday, October 16. The theme is Leyendas and Myths, and it's open to all experience levels, so you don't need a long resume to sign up.

It's a bilingual night, which is the point: they're celebrating stories, voices, creativity and self-expression in both English and Spanish. Submissions are welcome in English, Spanish, or a mix of the two, so you can lean into whichever language feels right for your piece. If you've been sitting on a story or a poem that fits the legends and myths theme, this is a good place to get it out there.

Casa de la Cultura is a program of the center that runs accessible, inclusive, family-friendly classes and workshops rooted in preserving Mexican American, Indigenous and Latino culture and traditions. Each pillar of the program is aimed at promoting a lifelong curiosity for creating art and the expression of identity. The center itself is dedicated to the preservation, creation, presentation and promotion of the cultural arts of Mexican Americans and Latino cultures, and it reopened to the public on June 6, 2026, after Phase 2 of its 2018 Facility Expansion Plan. Inside you'll find galleries, cultural arts classes and camps for adults and youth, and artist-run programs like the Caminos Teen Leadership Program and the Latino/a/e Artist Access Program (LAAP). It also hosts annual community events like Dia de los Muertos and Mexamericon, the Latino Comic Con.

¡Cuéntame! runs from 6 PM to 8 PM at the center, located at 600 River St. in downtown Austin.