We are pleased to announce the Memoria, Voz y Patrimonio keynote speakers,
Tomás Benitez , Roberto Rodriguez
and Moctesuma Esparza

Keynote Speaker Biographies

Tomás Benitez,
Executive Director of Self-Help Graphics & Art

  - from an Interview by Sonya Geis

Tomás Benitez leans forward in his chair and sums up his most pressing professional concern with one quick word: money.

Benitez, 50, is a compact and solidly-built Chicano - "if you're coming to me as Hispanic or some other term to degrade me, I'm going to kick your ass," he says congenially - and head of Self-Help Graphics and Art, a visual arts center in East L.A. He grew up riding his bike to play basketball out behind the building where he now works.

In the warm, dusty mix of workspace and storage that serves as his office, surrounded by photo collages, brilliantly-colored paintings of barrio scenes, and a framed pencil drawing of Robert Kennedy and Cesar Chavez, Benitez reflects on his efforts to keep his staff members paid and the mosaic-studded building able to house artists' workshops, youth programs and an art gallery.

"This economy has people really shaken," he says. "With non-profits, you know how it is. More people come to us as resources are no longer available from other places. At the same time, our capacity to help them diminishes."

Benitez describes Self-Help as "a portal and a window: it's a way people leave and arrive from the community." The organization seeks "to expand the identity of the American experience to include Chicanos, and to connect with people who are all different, and respect the mutualities of who we all are ….

"Are you buying this?" he asks suddenly. "Look, it's like Jackie Robinson - a wonderful man, but who was doing it before Jackie? Musicians and artists. People don't care what you look like, it's 'Can you play guitar, I'll do some licks on my trombone, now we got something.'"

Self-Help Graphics & Art was founded by Sister Karen Boccalero, a nun and artist who grew up in Boyle Heights with an Italian mother and a Jewish stepfather. Sister Karen worked with Mexican and Chicano artists as they began moving into the area in the late 60s, and when she ran out of room in her garage for printmaking and other art projects, the group founded Self-Help. Benitez was a grantwriter for the organization and took over when Sister Karen died in 1997.

"She was a visionary. I'm a listmaker," Benitez says. "It's been my job to transition to a place that operates without a cult of personality." This is difficult, he says, but "I love every minute of it."

Benitez has traveled with Self-Help exhibitions to Ireland, Germany and South Africa, among other places, and Self-Help works were among the first shown at the new Pretoria Art Museum after apartheid ended in 1994. He uses his experience with black South Africans to illustrate his point about the cross-cultural power of art.
"This is a population that understands the struggle for identity," Benitez says. "And they said, 'This is some of the most exciting art from you Yanks ever.'" Benitez flinches. "I said, 'Hey, don't be calling me a Yank.' But it really expanded my identity as an American."

MOCTESUMA ESPARZA, filmaker, producer

Esparza is best known for the highly acclaimed film "The Milagro Beanfield War," which he co-produced with Robert Redford. Esparza earned two degrees at UCLA, a B.A. in 1971 and an M.F.A. in 1973. He won an Emmy Award for his master's thesis film production, "Cinco Vidas." Immediately after receiving his graduate degree, he worked as a producer/writer in NBC's documentary unit.

With his partner Robert Katz, Esparza has produced war epics such as "Gettysburg" and "Rough Riders," as well as Latin-themed films like "Selena" and "The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca." Their company also produced HBO's Emmy-winning "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge." Earlier this year, Esparza served as executive producer of "Gods and Generals."
Additionally, Esparza has held a number of positions within the film industry. He served as president of the National Hispanic Arts Education and Media Institute and chaired the advisory committee of the Sundance Institute in Salt Lake City.

Roberto Rodriguez, Journalist

Roberto Rodriquez began his journalism/writing career at La Gente newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972. Since 1990, he has been a senior writer with Black Issues in Higher Education. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, the electronic book: The X in La Raza and Codex Tamanchuan: On Becoming Human. After winning a number of state and national writing awards in fiction in the mid-1970s, he wrote for several publications, including Lowrider magazine, the Eastside Sun in Los Angeles and La Opinion, the nation's largest Spanish-language daily. Before becoming syndicated, he also published columns in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today.

In 1984, he wrote Assault With A Deadly Weapon, a book on police brutality. In 1986, he was honored by the California Chicano News Media Association for his defense of the First Amendment, as a result of his triumph in two police brutality trials stemming from a vicious assault by L.A. County Sheriff's officers in 1979. In 1997, Assault With a Deadly Weapon and his book On the Wrong Side of the Law were published under one title: Justice: A Question Of Race (Bilingual Review Press). The book chronicles his trials and examines the underworld of police brutality and the system that allows it to flourish.

Roberto Rodriguez and his wife Patrisia Gonzales have been writing the syndicated Column of the Americas, distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, since 1994. The writers offer a unique perspective of the Americas–on topics of general interest as well as highlighting issues that specifically affect the peoples of the continent. Column of the Americas can be viewed at www.uexpress.com .