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Galería De La Raza Archives CEMA 4
CEMA 4  
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Description
Administrative records, programs, subject files, correspondence, clippings, slides, photographs, serigraphs, posters, silkscreen prints, ephemera and other creative materials documenting activities of the San Francisco Bay Area Chicano cultural arts center. Includes work by many of the prominent Chicano(a)/Latino(a) artists, such as Juana Alicia, Rodolfo (Rudy) Cuellar, Alfredo De Batuc, Ricardo Favela, Gilbert Luján (Magu), Ralph Maradiaga, Juanishi Orosco, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodríguez, and René Yañez. (CEMA 4).
Background
Galería de la Raza (GDLR) is a non-profit community arts organization that promotes Chicano and Latino art and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Founded in 1970, the GDLR was, like many other such centros, a product of the Chicano civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The movement called for artistic emphasis on everyday lives and on community activities of the Chicano/Latino people. These principles guided the GDLR and set it apart from mainstream art organizations in terms of philosophy and organization. Throughout its history, the GDLR has striven not only to make art accessible to the community, especially in the largely Chicano/Latino Mission District of San Francisco, but also to involve the public in the very creation of art works. The origin of the GDLR can be traced to a Spring 1969 exhibition in Oakland, "New Symbols for La Nueva Raza," by the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALAF). Aimed at "integrating art into the Chicano social revolution sweeping the country," MALAF brought together four Chicano/Latino artists, Esteban Villa, Manuel Hernandez, Malaquias Montoya, and René Yañez. In 1970, a larger group established the Galería de la Raza as an artistic collective, on 14th Street in San Francisco's Mission District. Members of that group included Rupert García, Peter Rodríguez, Francisco Camplis, Peter Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, Jerry Concha, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuelo Villamor, Robert González, Luis Cervantez, Chuy Campusano, Rolando Castellón, Ralph Maradiaga, and René Yañez. Later, Maradiaga became the administrative director and Yañez the artistic director. In 1972, GDLR moved to its present location on 24th Street at Bryant Street in the Mission District. In 1985, Humberto Cintrón became administrative director following Maradiaga's death. Enrique Chagoya succeeded Yañez in 1987 as artistic director. In 1990, María Pinedo became executive director of the GDLR, and was succeeded in 1993 by Liz Lerma. She was followed by Gloria Jaramillo in 1995, and by Carolina Ponce de Leon in 1999. In its first decade, the GDLR devoted itself to reclaiming the images and practices of popular Mexican/Latino traditions. It helped introduce and popularize the Mexican artist and political activist Frida Kahlo and the celebration of El Día de los Muertos ("The Day of the Dead"). In 1980, the GDLR started its second decade with the founding of Studio 24, a gift store. Studio 24 has served as a means to generate revenue for the GDLR in face of cuts in federal funds for arts, and as an experiment in a new form of community art organization. During the 1980s, the GDLR expanded its international coverage, with exhibitions on the crises in South Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America. The GDLR has in the early 1990s further expanded its commitment to the Chicano/Latino community by focusing on not only race, but also gender and sexual identity. In 1995, the GDLR launched the (Re)Generation Project with a variety of programs, to celebrate its 25th anniversary and to promote inter-generational dialogs among Chicano(a)/Latino(a) artists. Also that year it mounted a retrospective exhibition "The Defiant Eye" at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens, curated by Teresita Romo.
Extent
37.5 linear feet (90 boxes - 23 flat boxes, 8 photo albums, 59 document boxes, 10 slide boxes and posters)
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Availability
Written authorization from La Galería de la Raza needed for duplication of any portion of the collection. Being amended by GDLR to conform to standard language used now.