Drawing on a 20-year history of scholarship, public programs, lectures, exhibits, and conferences exploring Maya art, language, and culture, the K'inal Winik Cultural Center was formally established at Cleveland State University in 2003. The K'inal Winik Cultural Center owes its existence and success by the dedication of its former Director and Founder Dr. Laura Martin, Professor of Modern Languages and Fulbright Scholar, Cleveland State University. Throughout her entire career, Dr. Martin has been at the forefront of contemporary Maya studies. Her research into Maya culture and language has drawn serious attention to the plight of the millions of indigenous Maya peoples still living in Mexico, Guatemala , Honduras, and Belize.

The beginning of the Center and its multidisciplinary programs date back to 1986 when it was known as the K'inal Winik Festival: A Celebration of Maya Art, Language, and Culture. The Late Art Historian and Mayan Epigrapher Dr. Linda Schele was the original inspiration behind the first K'inal Winik Festival. In 1986, a ground-breaking exhibition on Classic Maya art entitled The Blood of Kings opened at the Cleveland Museum of Art. In conjunction with that exhibit, Linda Schele accepted an invitation to speak to faculty, staff, and students at CSU. Linda spoke to a standing-room only audience. While at CSU, she also met with a group of young linguists and epigraphers working on modern Mayan languages. That conference served as the impetus from which the first Maya Hieroglyph Weekend would take place the following Fall. At that moment, the K'inal Winik Festival was born, though a formal space to house the center would take another 17 years! The mission of that first K'inal Winik Festival was to facilitate the sharing of scholarship among interdisciplinary groups of scholars and interested laypeople. Dr. Martin officially left the Center in August 2006. She remains active in scholarly research and collaborations with native Mayas and co-directs Yax Te' Books, a publisher of books by and about Mayas.

The Center is currently directed by Mayan archaeologist and epigrapher Phillip J. Wanyerka, who has spent the past 20 years exploring Classic Maya ruins and deciphering ancient texts. The Center and its staff collaborate with experts in various fields of Maya studies to present public programming, workshops, lectures, exhibits, and to develop teaching curriculum and enrichment activities aimed at promoting ancient and modern Maya culture. The Center also fosters international exchange and includes numerous Maya colleagues as active participants in its education and exchange programs. Staff, funding, and space provided by the University now allow the Center to develop new and exciting year-round programming.