El Museo Nacional de Etnografia y Folklore, La Paz, Bolivia
Gallery "Casa del Caballero Aguila", Puebla, Mexico
Museo de las Americas, Denver, Colorado

Profiles:

U.S. Participants

David Dadone, Associate Director of Operations, Museo de las Américas

Born in Argentina, David gained experience in art management by working for an independent curator, Julio Sanchez, who curated the Tantika Collection of Juan Berger, as well as by training with contemporary artist Maximo Gonzales. David, who is a practicing sculptor, has a degree in business from the University of Buenos Aires and is currently working towards a BFA in art theory and criticism from the Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado.

Judy Reese Kelly, Education Director, Museo de las Américas

A long-time supporter of arts in education, Judy received a prestigious award from Opera Colorado for her work in the field and was a 2003 National Endowment for the Humanities Teacher/Scholar in Siena, Italy. Before becoming director of education at the Museo, she served on teacher focus groups for the Museo, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, Opera Colorado, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Judy also worked as the humanities teacher at Columbine High School for 15 years and was the contract coordinator for projects at the school including a five-year project, “Voices from Columbine”, in partnership with the Colorado Council on the Arts and Young Audiences. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and Kim Robards Dance. Judy was a 2004 nominee for Colorado Teacher of the Year.

Patty Ortiz, Executive Director, Museo de las Américas

Throughout her career, Patty has been active in bringing art into local communities. In addition to exhibiting her own work internationally and receiving public art commissions from the cities of Boulder and Denver, she has served on the boards of the Chicano Humanities Arts Council and the Denver Mayors’ Commission on the Arts. During her ten-year tenure as program director of the Colorado Artists in Residence Program, Patty expanded the program to include several statewide initiatives and national models in the areas of teacher training and art infusion programming. She has sat on national grant and fellowship review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, the Arizona Arts Council, the South Carolina Arts Commission, and the Denver Mayor’s Office of Arts, Culture, and Film. Patty has herself received a “New Forms Regional Initiative Grant”, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Inter Arts Program and the Rockefeller Foundation, and a CoVision Project Grant from the Colorado Council on the Arts. Patty received her BFA from the University of Texas in Austin and her MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Non-U.S. Participants

Marie-France Desdier, Independent Artist and Artistic Project Division Coordinator at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla

Marie-France’s artwork explores the concepts of time, space, synchronicity, and connection between people and daily life.  Born in Mexico City, she graduated from Universidad de las Américas Puebla with a B.A. in Fine Arts and studied Graphic Design at the Intercontinental University of Mexico, Cultural Management at the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla and Cultural Marketing at the Universidad Iberoamericana.  Currently, she is working towards an MBA in Marketing Management at Universidad de las Américas Puebla.

Ramiro Guillermo Molina Rivero, Director, Museo National de Etnografia y Folklore

Ramiro’s areas of specialization include anthropology and public policy; he has also worked extensively in the fields of social anthropology, economics, and politics and consults on the management of natural resources and the environment. As Bolivia’s National Secretary of Ethnic Affairs of Gender and Generation, he has helped to shape public policy and has lead related task forces. An advocate for human rights, Ramiro is a consultant for the following organizations: Indigenous Inter-American Institute in Mexico, Indigenous Institute Bolivian in La Paz, Ministry of Planning and Coordination of the United Nations for the Children (UNICEF), Children’s Christian Foundation in La Paz, United Nations at La Paz, UNICEF in Cochabamaba, the Ministry of Education in La Paz, Harvard University, Institute of Ecology in La Paz, University of Leeds in England, University of the Cordillera at La Paz, and FAO in Chile. Ramiro studied at Harvard and Yale and received his doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University.