Casa de Cultura Gaby Brimmer, Portales

The Casa de Cultura Gaby Brimmer is an important part of the network of community and cultural centers operated by the Benito Juárez Alcaldía. It’s named for one of the most important advocates for the rights of people with disabilities in Mexican history.

• Gabriela “Gaby” Raquel Brimmer (1947–2000), was a writer and activist. She was born to parents who’d fled to Mexico City to escape the Nazi holocaust. Born with cerebral palsy, a caretaker Florencia Sánchez Morales is credited with teaching her to communicate. She founded the Asociación para los Derechos de Personas con Alteraciones Motoras (Association for the Rights of People with Motor Disabilities) to advocate for access and rights for people with disabilities and to guarantee greater inclusion in Mexican society. She also wrote poetry and was known for moving sensitivity and strength.

The center is important to all of the people of the southeast of Benito Juárez. It’s a center focused on creative and communicative arts. Workshops are in dance, yoga, visual arts and, interestingly, podcast production. There’s a special focus on the senior community area, and they’ll be seen frequently dancing in or around the center.

Within the broader Portales area, itself well-known for antiquities and arts, the Casa de Cultura Gaby Brimmer hosts frequent exhibitions and presentations. These are curated from within the Center’s own workshops, and by curators bringing in work from the rest of the city, country, and from abroad.