Crescendo Cultural

for individuals and their communities. Without adequate support, thenext generation of Latinos will not be prepared to take on the currentand future challenges that threaten Latino art throughout the U.s.staff and taskforce participants distributed studies, reports, and articlesabout arts and culture, arts education, organizational and boarddevelopment, and fundraising to the taskforce.tAb L e F oreWAr oF Contents DThe Crescendo Cultural Taskforce Creationthe national Museum of Mexican Art set out to host a convening of youngLatino artists and art professionals to discuss the state of Latino arts andculture in the U.s. and their ideas and concerns about what the next stepsshould be. As part of this process a select group of participants, 35 yearsand younger, came together for Crescendo Cultural.During its twenty-five years of programming and service, the Museumhas a long and proud tradition of providing mentorship to culturallyspecific arts organizations across the nation and has created mentorshipprograms to help facilitate discussions and future partnerships. inthis vein, Crescendo Cultural is a program designed to encouragementorship. but instead of seasoned art professionals mentoring thenext generation, the next generation of art leaders will educate culturalinstitutions, universities, private and government funders, and scholarsabout what should be the agenda and goals for the preservation andpresentation of Latino arts and culture in the U.s.to secure a diverse and highly experienced taskforce, the Museum decidedto conduct an application process for participants throughout the country.We posted application information on our website and sent email blaststhrough our extensive list serve. We sent emails and letters and made callsto arts leaders who participate with or work in Latino cultural institutionsincluding museums, cultural centers, theaters, dance companies, studiosand performance networks. We targeted specific artists and art leaderswhose work the Museum staff had become familiar with or knew aboutthrough other artists, cultural leaders or conferences.As a result of these efforts, our call for applications received a hugenationwide response that allowed for a high caliber of CrescendoCultural taskforce participants. We chose to select 14 instead of theproposed 10 participants from a diverse applicant pool of professionals.The ProcessDuring the months preceding the convening, staff prepared an agendathrough an ongoing conversation with participants about proposedtopics. Given the short time frame of two days, the taskforce was keenlyinterested in selecting topics of upmost interest to the participants andthose that are most pressing for Latino arts preservation and presentationacross the country. to supplement the convening’s discussion, MuseumAcknowledgmentsDuring the convening on July 15 th and 16 th , 2011, Crescendo CulturalCoordinator Linda Xóchitl tortolero facilitated and moderated thediscussion. twelve topics were chosen for the convening’s discussionall of which were analyzed in great depth. through a lively and engagingconversation, topics of the current state of affairs for Latino arts andculture in the U.s. and the participants’ role in its future becameincreasingly prevalent. Participants understood deeply the significanceof clearly defining the scope of Crescendo Cultural including itsobjectives, goals, audience and how to disseminate, distribute andpromote the final position paper.the Museum staff hopes that Crescendo Cultural will one day serveas a model for engaging populations of young artists and art leaders tobecome a louder voice and more active participant in arts and culturethroughout the U.s.sinceramente,Carlos tortoleroPresidentWith a generous grant from The Joyce Foundation, the NationalMuseum of Mexican Art was able to create and coordinate theCrescendo Cultural Taskforce. We thank Ellen S. Alberding andthe Board of The Joyce Foundation for their continuous support.Our sincere thanks goes to Michelle Boone, who while serving asthe former Senior Program Officer of The Joyce Foundation andnow the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of CulturalAffairs and Special Events, believed in the purpose and goals ofthe Taskforce from the very beginning. Ariana Cervantes of TheMexican Museum in San Francisco assisted our staff with notetaking during the convening and for this we thank her. Specialgracias to Elsa Saeta, Director of the Women’s Center at DePaulUniversity for taking the time to give the paper a final review.Finally, the Museum also would like to thank our amazing staffthat assisted with the coordination of this project.6 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART • CresCenDo CULtUrAL NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART • CresCenDo CULtUrAL 7