Samples - From El Paso Magazine
Bi-national art cooperation
Name your favorite description-sister city-world’s largest border city- truth is the El Paso Juarez border region with around 2-3 million people comprises a distinct culture with an incredible richness of history and art. Often we who live here do not fully appreciate that and many people from outside the region don’t even begin to understand it.
This should be changing thanks to the city’s department of Museum and Cultural Affairs and the Mexican consulate. Through art exhibitions, museum tours, lectures and a variety of other activities they have been establishing a new collaboration with their counterparts in Juarez to bring a fuller appreciation for all of the cultural and historic wealth our region offers.
Angela Mora, culture and historic tourism liaison officer at MCAD points to this as a new focus for the department designed to “help bring out all of the richness and wealth of culture that our region has to offer.” She has worked extensively with Mexican consulates in other cities and says she noticed when she came back here that “although we are sister cities there had not really been such a close relationship and in the area of arts and culture I don’t think very much had been going on.”
Meeting with Elsa Borja, vice-consul for cultural and community promotions, members were introduced to their counterparts in Juarez and they made their first major collaboration the Dia de la Muerto festival.
There had never been a binational celebration of this festival and they expanded the event to a full week from the traditional two days and coordinated events on both sides of the border. Opening at San Jacinto Plaza here and closing at San Jose Cemetery in Juarez, the event encompassed concerts, combined art exhibits at both Chamizal museums, and a huge variety of other activities.
From this initial collaboration grew a host of new activities currently being offered from lecture tours to art exhibits designed to promote and explore our shared cultural heritage.
This area played an important role in the Mexican revolution of 1910, and from now until the 100 year anniversary, there are bimonthly historical tours of those sites offered with lectures by specialists. Participants will be able to explore significant sites here, as well as in Juarez. MCAD is also arranging for a series of lectures on the subject to be given at the public library.
The department is also planning a bimonthly museum tour covering both sides of the border focusing on art, history and archaeology. In addition people can download a self guided walking tour from the MCAD web site (elpasotexas.gov/mcad).
Juarez has been promoting cultural events which occur here through the monthly magazine Tiempo Libre, so the department is considering a similar publication designed to let people know about the myriad cultural activities going on in both cities, They are also planning a master calendar listing all cultural events.
The El Paso Museum of Art has also been reaching out to the Juarez art community as well as bringing artists from deeper inside Mexico with the help of the Mexican consulate. Currently showing at EPMA is the internationally significant Mexican fantasist Teodulo Romulo. Of course, last fall, there was the important Mexico Modern show, and there are plans for a huge regional juried show in 2008.
Since taking over as director last year, Tomor has extensively explored the cultural landscape in Juarez. A casual encounter introduced Tomor to the French born, Mexico City based photographer Eric Jervaise. Jervaise was being published in a new book by Cuadro por Cuadro press in Juarez and Tomor decided to not only exhibit his photos at EPMA but arranged with officials at INBA for a crossborder exhibition. There was a “tremendous” response to the show here and Tomor estimated that 40-50% of the people at the opening lecture and exhibition were from Juarez.
“I consider Juarez to be part of our service region,” Tomor says “We are the largest fine arts cultural institution in the southwest. This region is very rich and it doesn’t end at the border, We are very excited about working with them and they are excited about working with us.”
Tomor believes that asking questions about the border is very timely right now and he wants to actively involve the Juarez community not only because they are a part of our region, but also because they form such a vital and active artistic community.
In May, the museum is mounting a huge exhibit designed to explore art and artists all along the border from San Diego to Brownsville. Called “Sister Cities. Testing Boundaries: art and artists along the US-Mexican border”. curator Christian Gerstheimer points out that “often when art from the border is presented, it focuses on artists from this side only, and many who live a considerable distance from the border, but this show features artists from both sides who live and work along the border.”
Exploring the work of emerging and established artists it is designed to investigate how “the frequent passage of ideas, culture and people found there has become an increasingly crucial subject that produced numerous misunderstood realities and paradoxes.”
Elsa Borja, vice consul for cultural and community promotions. at the Mexican Consul-general, is enthusiastic about the new projects and partnerships. She considers her mission is to open doors for people here to have access to the cultural richness of Mexico and she has brought members of MCAD not only to Juarez but also to Mexico City to introduce them to influential people there. She also is arranging for some groups who play in Juarez to also play in El Paso, citing the Ballet company of Veracruz on March 24-25 as one example.
She feels those of us living here to be “very fortunate to have Mexico so close, so why not take advantage of it.”
She was excited to see the “shared vision of spirit and vision for international cooperation” by members of MCAD. “We have a very unique place-the most unique in the world.” she says. “We should be known to the world.’