Spain Arts & Culture (www.spainculture.us), a new and rising force in Spain's cultural diplomacy arsenal, is putting together an unprecedented calendar of performances throughout the United States in 2017. Here in Washington they've been active for some time at the 'Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain', a distinguished mansion on 16th St. NW which is ideal as an exhibit space and includes an intimate performance venue and lovely patio for cocktail receptions as well. Spain/culture.us has grown into an interesting force for the promotion of cutting edge architecture and design, photography and art exhibits, literary soirees and plenty of classical and popular music from Spain.

It has been twelve years now since Madrid's; "Fundacion Conservatorio Flamenco Casa Patas" began sending flamenco groups to GALA Theatre and on U. S. tours. Each year they design a new project and perform some of the most innovative and ingenious flamenco shows you will ever witness, with brilliant musicians and top notch performers. The shows are always intimate mixtures of polished dancers, fine musicians and the most typical singers of the idiom bringing to life the feeling and passion of Andalucía.

They walk in with a look of lost bewilderment, many of them children searching for family, and all of them with tags indicating they've been through the detention center just a few miles away on the border with Mexico, and suddenly everyone in the room breaks out in thunderous applause. It is a daily ritual. This is what happens each day at the Sacred Heart parish in the small town of McAllen under the watchful eye of Sister Norma Pimentel, a woman who has become a legend in south Texas. These are the most recent refugees crossing the border at the southernmost tip of the United States, dozens of whom get routed daily through this refugee center where they get to wash up, eat some food, find comfortable clothing and manage a few days rest before they're sent on their way to family, friends or resettlement in a new city.