At La Casa, Carolina Dávila and Brianna Gutiérrez cultivate joy, art, and connection, supporting student groups and building community across Yale.
La casa es su casa
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L-R: Carolina Dávila and Brianna Gutiérrez.
La Casa Cultural de Julia de Burgos: Latino Cultural Center, affectionately known as La Casa, announces its presence on Crown Street with a warmth of color — more specifically, as a three-story, 1870 red brick house.
When you walk toward the abode from Park Street, the rectangle of yellow and purple that fixes your gaze materializes: it’s a mural of a woman’s face. As you move closer to the painting that is almost as high as the house, you see her name is Julia de Burgos, Afro-Puerto Rican activist poet and La Casa’s namesake. Created in 1994, this public art project was a collaboration between Rafael Weil ’94 M.F.A. and New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts’ students. They painted windows that portray Latine art, music, and literature into Weil’s bold love song.
This mural honors Julia de Burgos, Afro-Puerto Rican activist poet and La Casa namesake.
If you approach the house from the corner of High and Crown Streets, another public-art piece reveals itself: the explosively colorful mural celebrating the unification of the Latino cultural houses. Painted by Yale graduates Maceo Montoya ’02 and Francisco Delgado ’02 M.F.A., the mural presents three vibrant layers of society, activists all, below a towering United Farm Workers symbol.
Embraced, quite literally, by Latine pride and artistic spirit, La Casa is a home that supports 21 affiliate student organizations (as of Spring 2026) and 32 student staff members (14 student coordinators, 14 peer liaisons, three graduate assistants, and one arts liaison). Supporting this robust student activity are two Yale staff members: Carolina Dávila, La Casa director and Yale College assistant dean, and Brianna Gutiérrez, La Casa assistant director.
This dynamic mural symbolizes the unification of Latine communities into one center.
“I think the part of our vision that we want to center,” said Dávila, “is joy and celebration. Brianna and I think about moments where we can provide opportunities for community, connection, and humanity beyond the stressors of day-to-day life.”
“I want to encourage all students to engage with La Casa’s joy and celebration,” said Gutiérrez. “Being Latina, Latino, or Latinx is not a prerequisite to come through our doors. Every single room, every single space, besides my office, is open to any students, faculty, and staff members to take a meeting, study, have lunch, or hang out.”
“Chance of a lifetime”
Dávila served as assistant and associate director of La Casa before taking on her current positions. Her office is in the Yale College Dean’s Office at 55 Whitney Ave. with other university cultural-center directors, and she works to strategically build culturally affirming programs, faculty relations, alumni engagement, and campus partnerships.
A first-floor mural of Julia de Burgos, painted by Danielle De Jesus ’21 M.F.A., is the backdrop for a Dia De Los Muertos altar created by Mecha de Yale, an affiliate student organization of La Casa.
She and Gutiérrez divide the center’s student staff members and supervise different groups. Hers are the peer liaisons, student mentors to Yale College first-year and transfer students, and graduate assistants who support graduate and professional school students. Dávila leads some of La Casa’s signature events, such as Latine Heritage Month keynote and the year-end Stoling & Awards Celebration and takes her place on a few campus committees as an assistant dean.
Vejigante masks displayed in the Despierta Boricua room on the second floor.
“Getting the job of assistant director in 2017 was the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Dávila. “La Casa is the first Yale building named after a woman of color, specifically a Black, Latina, Puerto Rican woman, all the identities that I have. It’s a professional home for me, but it’s become an investment in my personal development as well. My understanding of my Latinidad has expanded by working in this space.”
“It’s really, really fun”
Gutiérrez arrives on site at La Casa Monday through Friday in both a supervisory and administrative role. She leads and advises the student coordinators as they plan and execute events and manage center operations, often collaborating with other Yale departments and units. La Casa hosted over 55 student-led events with more than 2,000 attendees between August and October 2025. Gutiérrez also addresses building projects and improvements and works closely with the facilities team who she says is “absolutely amazing.” She also oversees all financial transactions and attends campus partner meetings alongside Dávila.
Mural in La Casa’s library on the second floor, painted in 2017 by Estefania “Este” Puerta MFA ’18 inspired by themes of freedom and migration.
“Our student groups are so diverse,” said Gutiérrez. “We have performance groups like Ballet Folklórico Mexicano, Sabrosura, the Mariachi Band, and cultural groups like Despierta Boricua and Ecuatorianos y Amigos Unidos. I work with them directly as their advisor to help bring their visions to life and recruit more members. I serve as their guide, and that’s really, really fun.”
This second-floor wall art by Danielle De Jesus ’21 M.F.A. features a plantain tree and the Despierta Boricua student organization’s logo, the Taíno peoples’ symbol for Puerto Rico’s native coquí frog over the Yale Y.
Joy in community
When you enter La Casa from Crown Street and explore its space, you realize that the art on its exterior continues inside on all three levels. On the first floor are two murals, one in La Galeria de Mujeres (Gallery of Women) by Danielle De Jesus ’21 M.F.A., and another in the kitchen, a project co-led by Rebecca Sosa-Coba ’25 and Zoe Cire ’24 M.F.A., that celebrates Latin American Indigenous communities. Two pieces of artwork painted by Estefania Puerta ’18 M.F.A., also greet you on the second floor. On the third floor, in the Dominican Students Association (DSA) room, is a mural by De Jesus that highlights the DSA logo as well as its flag and two dominos—playing dominos is a popular game in Dominican culture and across various Caribbean and Latin American communities.
“The artwork inside La Casa celebrates our mission of centering joy in this place while we honor our almost 50-year history on this campus,” said Dávila. “And what we give to the community is returned to us four-fold in moments we’ll never forget.”
This colorful mural of shared meals — a project co-led by Rebecca Sosa-Coba ’25 and Zoe Cire ’24 M.F.A. and painted by various community members — lights up the La Casa’s kitchen.
Gutiérrez recalls one particular time soon after she joined Yale last August during the annual open house. “Here I was in the audience watching Ballet Folkloric Mexicano, surrounded by cheering, yelling, and whooping, and I thought, ‘This is why I’m here, to feel this joy in community with others.’”
This mural, also by Danielle De Jesus ’21 M.F.A, in the Dominican Students Association (DSA) Room on the third floor highlights the DSA’s logo, the Dominican Republic’s flag, and two dominos.
Dávila’s memorable moments are often in the unexpected one-on-one or small, group conversations with students in the first-floor gallery that is set up like a living room with cozy couches and family photos. “Usually, I’ve just come from a campus-partner meeting or something and we have ‘family’ conversations, human to human,” she said.
“These interactions,” she added, “which often inform our practices moving forward, bring me so much joy because the students are really funny, very engaging, and truth-tellers in the best possible sense of the word.”
