Nancy Rodriguez

Nancy Rodriguez, owner of Tochtli Angel Arts, a cultural arts management and planning company, is an artist and arts administrator with over 20 years of experience.

As an artist, Nancy is a dancer, writer, actress and performance artist. She has also had her own publishing company, served as a media production consultant, produced theater productions and organized art exhibitions.

Join me as I ask Nancy what being an artist means to her…

Nancy, co-capitana of Danza Coyolxauhqui, has participated in Danza ceremonies in San Antonio, the San Diego Region, Phoenix, Zacatecas and Mexico City. She has offered classes in Danza at the Centro Cultural de la Raza for seven years and in San Antonio for four years. In 1994, Nancy began supporting the Two Spirit Women’s Lakota Sundance in Northern California and Vermont, continuing her support through 2005.

As a youth, Nancy spent much of her extracurricular time learning dance, voice and acting technique, in rehearsal or performing on stage. She continued calling on her performance skills throughout her life as a public speaker, performance artist, and indigenous arts advocate

Which of these skills have helped in her career, and how have they been transferable?

Her list of performance venues include: Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Jump Start Theatre, Centro Cultural de la Raza, Our Lady of the Lake University, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, University of Texas-Austin, San Diego State University and University of California-San Diego. She was a member of the San Antonio women’s writing and performance group “Mujeres Grandes.”

Nancy has had her own publishing company, Tochtli Publishing, and published Chia, a Powerful Recuerdo, written by Tecihtzin. It was the top seller at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Inter American Book Fair in 1998.

She was the media production consultant for the Tejano Music Awards, working with Rudy Trevino, Gilbert Escobedo and Chayo Saldivar to introduce Tejano Music to the world through satellite broadcast.

What does it mean to her to publish books, produce media and theater and make art happen???

In 1995, her interview with the artist Selena was published by La Prensa de San Antonio and is still found on multiple fan websites around the world.

I’ll be asking Nancy, “What was Selena like in person?”

While serving as Executive Director at the Centro Cultural de la Raza, she was Executive Producer for several’productions including: Viviana Enrique Acosta’s The Night Sky and Fiesta Poblana, Sandra Ruiz’ Nice Girls Don’t Dance, Dulce Solis’ Chela, Cherrie Moraga’s Heroes and Saints and Elizabeth Ruiz’ Death by Survival, directed by Dori Salois.

As an actor she played lead roles in Letty y Su Mama and La Guadalupe Que Camina, both written by Beva Sanchez Padilla. She has performed original works, both in Texas and in California and continues to write poetry and short stories.

Arts Administrator

As an arts administrator, Nancy has served as Executive Director of the Women’s Employment Network in San Antonio, and serves as the Southern California Co-chair of the LGBT Arts Alliance and on the Board of the Latino Arts Network of California.

Under her leadership as Executive Director of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, the Centro attracted major donors, underwent a successful remodeling that increased and improved the visual and performing arts space. She was instrumental in reorganizing the Latino multi-disciplinary cultural arts center located in Balboa Park. She produced 25 exhibitions, 150 performance productions, and year-round arts education programs serving more than 250,000 families and tourists in the region.

She served as president of the Live Oak Fund, a Texas-based social change foundation funding emerging arts projects, and co-organized the first juried women’s art exhibition at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. She produced and served as curator for the Wendy Watriss Daniel Ortega exhibition at the Blue Star Art Space.

She was a founding board member and Vice President of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, forging a coalition of 23 institution’s Executive Directors in Balboa Park. She served as Chair of the Governance Committee.

She served on the City of San Diego Balboa Park Committee from 2001-2007 representing small to mid-size institutions and chair of the Operations and Land Use Committee.

Which of her roles in arts administration have been most fulfilling and why?

Activist

Nancy believes the arts build cultural bridges, contribute towards cross-cultural understanding, strengthen the association between identity and community, and enhance our quality of life. Many indigenous tribes around the world taught math, science, history, reading, and writing through the arts. It is one of her passions to see a return to the indigenous holistic approach of teaching our children with a strong emphasis on the arts.

Nancy is also an advocate for equality for Women, LGBT, and artists of Color.

Join me as I ask her about different activist movements in which she’s been involved and how she sees the world changing…

Today, Nancy enjoys working as an independent artist, danzante, arts advocate and advisor with her own company Tochtli Angel Arts, offering consultant services in non-profit management for the small to mid-sized or start-up institutions.

Nancy’s love of indigenous cultural arts is her passion. Her personal search for her Two-Spirit Mexican Indigenous roots gifted Nancy a lifetime of experience surrounded by dance, music, teatro, and ceremony. Nancy has further developed her Chichimec, Mexica, Apache traditions her grandmother introduced to her as a child, and she continues on that road today.

I’ll be asking her how she combines the different roles in her life?

Awards:
Sunday Woman, San Antonio Express and News
NCLR Alma Award for the Performing Arts to the Centro Cultural (under her leadership)
Milagrito Award, Centro Cultural de la Raza
Nancy Rodriguez Day, City of San Diego
KPBS and Union Bank of California Local Hero Award for the Arts