And to emphasize it, the center is staging a "Spring Kaleidoscope" Saturday.

To mark its opening, the center has staged in the ground-floor art gallery a group show by six Westchester artists aptly titled "Visions on a Grand Scale."

But with the project still on the drawing board, the center is staging a preopening show in which 27 artists have insinuated their work into the building, frequently in site-specific ways.

This week, the center is staging symposiums on literature and the arts in the city, educational policy, contemporary international issues and women writers around the world.

The center has staged music and other short-term performances, but this play, at five weeks, is its longest run.

Unless a 1988 exhibition by contemporary Chinese artists can be counted, this is the first show based on ethnic identity that the center has staged in its seven-year career and one hopes it will be the last.

The centre also stages typical bullfighting spectacles in its outdoor bullring.

As with classical music, Mexico City's cultural centers frequently stage classical and contemporary dance performances.

The controversy centers on a still-secret mission staged on Jan. 21 in Afghanistan by a Canadian special forces reconnaissance unit in which prisoners were taken.

The center holds 80 classes a week in the performing and visual arts, six exhibitions a year, a film series and fully staged theatrical productions at the local high school.