The New Face of Arts Leadership in the West - westaf - The Western ...

the Metropolitan State College of Denver and
is the vice president of the National Association
of Latino Arts and Culture. Garcia serves as
resident playwright at Su Teatro, generating
successes such as the 1986 production of
Introduction to Chicano History: 101, which
was featured in Joseph Papp’s Latino Theater
Festival in New York and subsequently toured
the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. In 1991, another
of his plays, Ludlow: El Grito de las Minas,
was performed at the TENAZ Festival in San
Antonio, Texas. La Carpa Aztlan presents: I
Don’t Speak English Only! is the company’s
most successful touring production to date,
written in 1993 by Garcia and the late Jose
Guadalupe Saucedo. The production has
toured Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico,
Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, and
California. Garcia’s new work, a collaboration
with noted composer/musician Daniel Valdez,
called El Sol Que Tu Eres, will offer its world
premiere production October 1, 2005. He will
direct the Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word
in the production of their original work, Fear of
a Brown Planet, and the Central City Opera
production of En Mis Palabras in the fall of 2005.
Erica L. Garcia
Erica L. Garcia is the senior educator for the
Palace of the Governors in New Mexico. She
was born in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and was
raised in Santa Fe. She studied biology at the
University of Puget Sound in Washington and
went on to earn her B.A. at the University of
New Mexico. At the University of New Mexico,
she earned a double major in Spanish and
Latin American studies with an emphasis in
New Mexico history, Latin American literature,
and politics. From 1993-1995, she conducted
a number of field studies on cultural arts
in Mexico and Spain. Before joining the
Palace of the Governors, she was the grant
administrator for the New Mexico Historical
Records Advisory Board from 2001-2004.
Charles Lewis
Charles Lewis founded Ethos Music Center
after graduating from the John F. Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard with a
master’s degree in public policy. Because of his
demonstrated commitment to public service,
Lewis was selected to be one of the school’s
first public service fellows and received a full
scholarship. At Harvard, Lewis was elected
Kennedy School Student Government (KSSG)
student body president and was given the
Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in
Public Service. Lewis attended the University
of Portland for his undergraduate work and
graduated magna cum laude. Immediately
after graduating from the University of Portland,
Lewis joined the Peace Corps and served two
years as a water and sanitation volunteer in the
Congo. He has been very active in Portland,
having served as an ombudsman associate
for Mayor Vera Katz, as a site supervisor for
Habitat for Humanity, and as a member of the
board of directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Statue Foundation. Lewis has been awarded
the Contemporary Alumni Award from the
University of Portland and was selected as a
Public Service Innovator by Harvard University.
Ming Luke
Ming Luke currently serves as the assistant
conductor of the Sacramento Philharmonic
Orchestra, music director of the Napa Valley
Symphony Youth Orchestra, assistant conductor
of the Napa Valley Symphony, and chorus
master of the Sacramento Opera. Prior to his
appointment in Sacramento and Napa, he
was a staff conductor for the Mendelssohn
Choir of Pittsburgh and prepared the choir
for such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Andre
Previn, Mariss Jansens, Michael Stern, and
Lucas Richman. He was also the conductor
and president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the
nonprofit organization Participate America
and organized, planned, and directed events
in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County in tribute
to the one-year anniversary of September
11 th . As a pianist, Luke has been described as
“passionate” and “intelligently sensitive” and
made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall at
age 18. He has been in constant demand as a
coach, collaborative pianist, and concert pianist
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