Acclaimed Actor Edward James Olmos and Latino Arts & Letters
Community Support Development of New Museum Home
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – Jun 26, 2013) –
The Mexican Museum, the premier West Coast museum
of Mexican, Chicano and Latino art, culture and heritage, announces
its new Arts & Letters Council. The council, whose Honorary
Chair is the highly-acclaimed Mexican American film actor, director
and producer, Edward James Olmos, currently comprises 51
accomplished arts and letters professionals found across the United
States and Mexico, all of whom stand firmly in support of the
development and construction of The Mexican Museum’s new home at
706 Mission Street in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Arts
District.
“We are proud to introduce our Arts & Letters Council,
especially as The Mexican Museum moves into the next phase in the
development of our new facility,” said Andy Kluger, chairman of The
Mexican Museum Board of Directors. “We are also deeply honored to
have the support of such luminaries from the arts and letters
community, many of whom have works in the permanent collections of
The Mexican Museum and other major museums across the country.”
The Mexican Museum, which is the only San Francisco museum to be
named an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, continues to
receive strong community support for its relocation and expansion.
It was this advocacy that led to the formation of the new Arts
& Letters Council, as well as to the invitation accepted by
Kluger’s personal friend, and honorary chairman of the Council,
Edward James Olmos. A tireless and globally-respected social
activist on issues affecting the Latino community, Olmos is the
first American-born Latino to receive an Academy Award nomination
for Best Actor for his role in the movie
Stand and Deliver(1988).
Since the launch of the Museum’s fundraising campaign,
¡Adelante!
The Mexican Museum Moves Forward, donations have streamed
into the Museum from throughout the United States and Mexico. The
financial support of the community continues to be needed to ensure
that The Mexican Museum achieves its proper place in the vital San
Francisco/Bay Area arts arena.
“People can support the Museum by becoming members or by
upgrading their current membership levels to the new Builder’s
Society level,” said Museum director, David J. de la Torre. “The
Builder’s Society membership category enables individuals,
businesses and organizations to support the museum for $1 a
day.”
The Mexican Museum Arts & Letters Council
Honorary Chair: Edward James Olmos
Mexican American Academy Award-nominated Actor and
Director
Isabel Allende: Chilean author & 2010 winner of Chile’s
“National Literature Prize”
Cecilia Concepción Alvarez: Seattle-based Chicana/Latina
painter and muralist
Alfredo Arreguín: Mexican-born, Seattle WA-based
painter
Richard Bains: San Francisco Bay Area musician and professor
Calvin Barajas: San Francisco Bay Area artist
Jesus Barraza: San Leandro, CA-based printmaker and graphic
artist
Santa C. Barraza: Texas-based Tejana/Chicana painter, muralist
and mixed-media book artist
Carmen Boullosa: New York-based Mexican poet, novelist and
playwright
Tania Candiani: Mexican mixed-media artist and Guggenheim
Fellow
Barbara Carrasco: Los Angeles-based Chicana painter &
muralist
Victor D. Cartagena: Salvadoran-born, San Francisco Bay Area
mixed-media artist
Renee Castro: San Francisco Bay Area painter and tattoo
artist
Luis Delgado-Qualtrough: San Francisco Bay Area photographer
Caleb Duarte: Mexican-American mixed-media artist and
curator
Rudy Fernandez: Colorado-based mixed-media artist
Pedro Friedeberg: Mexico City-based artist and designer
Coco Fusco: New York-based, Cuban-American interdisciplinary
artist and writer
Miguel Gandert: New Mexican-born photographer and professor
Camille Rose Garcia: Los Angeles, CA-based mixed media
artist
Rupert Garcia: San Francisco Bay Area contemporary painter
Carmen Lomas Garza: San Francisco-based Chicana narrative
artist and painter
Enrique Chagoya: Mexican-born painter, printmaker and
professor
Roberto Cortázar: Mexican-born visual artist and
painter
Jerry de la Cruz: Mexican-American painter based in Denver,
CO
Einar & Jamex de la Torre: Mexican-born, California-based
mixed-media sculptors
David Gonzáles: San Francisco Bay Area Area illustrator and
graphic designer
Ester Hernandez: San Francisco-based Chicana painter and
printmaker
Judith Hernandez: Chicana artist and founding member of the
Chicano Art/Los Angeles Mural movements
Sam Hernandez: San Francisco Bay Area sculptor
Linda Lucero: San Francisco Bay Area artist and arts
administrator
Amalia Mesa-Baines: San Francisco Bay Area curator, author and
artist
Laura Molina: Mexican-American artist, musician and actress
Malaquias Montoya: American-born Chicano poster artist and major
figure in the Chicano Art Movement
Chon Noriega: Chicano curator, writer and director of UCLA’s
Chicano Studies Research Center
Viviana Paredes: San Francisco Bay Area mixed-media artist and
sculptor
Irene Perez: San Francisco Bay Area painter and printmaker;
founding member of “Mujeres Muralistas”
Miguel Ángel Reyes: Mexican-born artist, muralist,
printmaker, illustrator and professor
Michael V. Ríos: San Francisco Bay Area muralist and artist
for Carlos Santana and the Latin Recording Academy
Peter Rodriguez: San Francisco artist and founder of The Mexican
Museum
Frank Romero: Los Angeles-based artist, member of the 1970s
Chicano art collective “Los Four”
Arturo Ernesto Romo-Santillano: Chicano artista, poet and
writer
Jorge Rojas: Mexican-born Brooklyn-based artist, muralist and
designer
Jos Sances: San Francisco printmaker and muralist, founder and
director of Alliance Graphics
Mark Vallen: Los Angeles-based figurative painter
Kathy Vargas: Texas-based photographer and professor
Rafael Vargas-Suarez: Mexican-born, New York-based contemporary
artist
Xavier Viramontes: San Francisco artist, printmaker and
painter
René Yáñez: San Francisco Bay Area artist,
curator, producer, and founding Artistic Director of Galeria de la
Raza
Rio Yáñez: San Francisco curator, photographer and
graphic artist
Victor Zaballa: San Francisco mixed-media artist
About The Mexican Museum:Founded by San Francisco
artist Peter Rodriguez in 1975 in the heart of the Mission
District, The Mexican Museum is located at Fort Mason Center, is
the realization of a vision to exhibit the aesthetic expression of
the Mexican and Mexican American people. Today, the museum’s vision
has expanded to reflect the evolving scope of the Mexican, Chicano
and Latino experience — including art, culture, history and
heritage. In 2012, The Mexican Museum became an affiliate of the
Smithsonian Institution, the nation’s largest museum network. The
museum currently has a permanent collection of more than 14,000
objects reflecting Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, Popular, Modern and
Contemporary Mexican, Latino and Chicano art. For more information,
please visit:
http://www.mexicanmuseum.org or call (415) 202-9700.
The Mexican Museum is open Wednesday – Sunday from noon to 4
p.m., located at Fort Mason Center, Building D, Marina Boulevard
and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco. FREE Admission. The Museum
offers a wide variety of programs, including Family Sundays,
exhibitions, special events, lectures and public programming
throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Spanish classes for all
levels are currently being offered for children and
adults. For current class schedules and registration
information go to
http://www.mexicanmuseum.org
The Museum is currently preparing for the completion of its
permanent home, which will be built in downtown San Francisco’s
Yerba Buena Arts District and is expected to open in
2017.
Media Contact:
Victoria Sanchez De Alba
De Alba Communications
(650) 270-7810
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