Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 02/07/2026 23:44:00

Copenhagen's Latin American culture house occupies a modest building on Hoffdingsvej in Valby with an unusual back-story: for over two decades it belonged to the Canary Islands association, founded by immigrant workers who arrived in the 1960s. As the members aged and their Spanish government subsidy disappeared in the financial crisis, they handed the house on - in December 2012 the building was transferred for a token 70,000 kroner, and after a few weeks of volunteer renovation, Casa Latinoamericana was inaugurated on 1 February 2013. The volunteer-run association describes itself as an intercultural, democratic meeting place for Latin Americans and Danes with an interest in the continent, its peoples and languages. The calendar is thick with live music - salsa, cumbia, Argentine folk and Latin jazz nights, including concerts under the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Vinterjazz banners - alongside pena evenings, communal meals, dance, language exchange, markets and children's activities. Local groups such as the Valby chess club also use the rooms. Membership is open to all and events typically welcome non-members too, with proceeds sustaining the house. The address is a short walk from Ny Ellebjerg/Kobenhavn Syd station, and programme announcements go out through the association's website, Facebook and Instagram. Music is the house's strongest suit: pena evenings in the Argentine tradition bring touring folk artists through Copenhagen, cumbia and salsa orquestas pack the hall for dance nights, and the association also carries its programme out into the city, co-organising Latin American festival days at larger venues. The underlying idea has stayed constant since the Canary Islanders' era - a self-managed clubhouse where a diaspora community and curious locals meet over food, music and language, run on membership fees, volunteer hours and the bar rather than commercial backing.