Cultural Arts 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization
About
Casa Coyo Inc. is a cultural arts nonprofit organization that honors Mother Earth, promotes healing, and builds community through artistic and cultural projects that celebrate indigenous identity, gender, and LGBT+ diversity.
Projects and Events
2026
"Untitled Mural" In Progress
Artist Liliflor is creating a mural with a social justice theme focusing on the elements of water, fire, earth, wind, native plants, birds, an indigenous first nations Tongva homestead, and the central image of activist Dolores Huerta. This mural is a co-project between Casa Coyo and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
2014
The Xochipilli and Mayahuel Mural
The Xochipilli and Mayahuel Mural by Liliflor Art honors Xochipilli, Aztec god of love, beauty, the arts, song, music, dance, painting, nature, and flowers and Mayahuel, the Aztec goddess of the maguey plant, nourishment, and fertility.
2012
Bendita Mujer Mural
Liliflor Art created the Bendita Mujer Mural to honor La Virgen and Coyolxauhqui. On 12/12/12 Casa Coyo held a blessing ceremony honoring the mural which included a blessing ceremony by Danza Azteca Tlaltlacah. Poets Gloria Alvarez, Abel Salas, Juanita Chavez, and Cui Cui participated in a Flor y Canto open mic. Food and drink were provided to the community.
2011
Mictlan Without Borders
On November 20th, 2011 Casa Coyo celebrated "Mictlan Without Borders" with an altar, Danza Azteca Tlaltlacah, and an open mic with Maria Guardado, Adriana Alvarez, and Abel Salas.
“Mictlan Without Borders” is a Day of the Dead/ Dia de los Muertos celebration and altar installation honoring migrants who have died crossing a border. Each year, thousands of women, men and children risk their lives seeking a better future or flee their homelands due to political, religious persecution, or climate change. “Mictlan Without Borders" honors migrants who have died on their journeys and welcomes them to Mictlan, the Aztec underworld of the dead, to celebrate their lives.
2010
Business Development Film Grant
In 2010, Casa Coyo awarded its first Business Development Film Grant to writer/director Nanobah Becker for Full, a feature about a fabulously queer nadleeh (gay Navajo man) aspiring to DJ in New York City who pawns his turntables for a bus ticket to New Mexico when he learns that his estranged little brother is bound for Afghanistan in a week. Full is a story of a young man’s rediscovery of himself and his loved ones and captures a slice of the complex, multiple layers of the cultural, sexual, and familial identity one negotiates in today’s world.
The Casa Coyo Business Development Film Grant will be awarded to filmmakers creating films that challenge social norms around issues of race, indigenous identity, class, gender and/or sexuality for business development of a film project. Funds may be used for marketing/media kits, professional reel copies, and legal or business consultation services.
Nanobah is one of a growing movement of filmmakers emerging from the Navajo Nation. She earned her MFA in directing from Columbia University in 2006 and is a Sundance Institute-Ford Foundation and Film Independent, Project: Involve fellow.
2008
Virgen and Quetzalcoatl Mural
Casa Coyo commissioned muralist and graffiti artist Hector Calderon aka Shandu to create the Quetzalcoatl-Virgen mural. Graffiti artists Gabe88, Pack, Vox, and Blush also contributed to its making. Residents were invited to participate and learned about Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, Mesoamerican creator, god of learning and knowledge. Once completed, Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc performed a blessing ceremony and the artists presented their work. El Huarachito, a Mexican restaurant in Lincoln Heights, donated delicious food to the pot luck. Casa Coyo’s goal is to commission artists to create murals to beautify inner city neighborhoods and inspire hope.
2006
Queering Mictlan
In 2006 Casa Coyo produced Queering Mictlan.
Queering Mictlan is a Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos celebration and art exhibit which recognizes the queer voice as a source of insight and inspiration. From the queer who historically has been raped, tortured, burned at the stake and denied equal rights, we now have a call to heal and honor mother earth/madre tierra and to treat each other with love, respect, and understanding. It is here in Aztlan, the womb of our ancestral home, that Casa Coyo began this journey.
Queering Mictlan is more than an art exhibit, it is an indigenous prayer to mother earth. In these times of war and fear, Queering Mictlan is a recognition of Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos as a sacred ceremony and an expression of resistance to violence and injustice. Casa Coyo provided grants to queer artists to pay homage to mother earth with installations honoring the four directions.
2006
Queering Mictlan Fundraiser
In 2006, Casa Coyo held its first fundraiser at the Airliner in Lincoln Heights. Numerous talented artists and musicians volunteered their talent to help make Queering Mictlan a reality.
Adelina Anthony
Adelina performed her performance piece, "Requiem for Queer Amor." Through the main character, "Sancha," an old school vaquera, "Requiem for Queer Amor" used storytelling, poetry, and movement to take the audience on a journey through all kinds of frontiers/fronteras -from the physical to the metaphysical.
Musical guests included Magali, in her queer ranchera debut, Las Fresas (powerpop/punk), Hijos de la Tierra (latin/folk/rock), Cihuatl Tonali (Urban Indigena Hip-Hop), EarthStonez (conscious hip-hop/reggae/soul), and Adris & the Brownies (acoustic jazz/blues).