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In Clara Apodaca’s
office at the National Hispanic Cultural
Center sits a skillfully crafted piece of
pottery, an exquisite pot created by the
first Hispanic artist to win the New Mexico
State Arts Fair, just 20 years ago. It
stands as one of her favorite possessions,
as well as a testament to her personal
investment in fostering a thriving Latino
arts community.
According to Apodaca, her five successful,
happily married children are her greatest
accomplishment. But her life’s work has also
had a profound effect on hundreds of local
artists, culture-hungry New Mexicans, and an
increasing wave of impressed tourists. From
her days as New Mexico’s first lady
throughout her tenure as a commissioner on
the Washington, D.C. Commission of the Arts
& Humanities – and during a million steps in
between – Apodaca has made it her mission to
promote New Mexico’s artistic heritage, in
all its multi-cultural glory.
Apodaca thanks her mother for that. “As a
young child in Southern New Mexico, we were
not much exposed to the arts,” Apodaca says.
“In her humble way, my mother always made
sure her two Mexican-American daughters were
exposed to culture. She sent me to piano
lessons; she took us to theater productions.
That’s what got me into the arts.” |
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Clara
Apodaca, Executive Director,
National Hispanic Cultural Center |
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Her love of the arts might
have been instilled in her at a young age, but
Apodaca took a circuitous path to the NHCC, where
she arrived in January 2006 after 18 years working
in the nation’s capital. Born and raised in New
Mexico, Apodaca got a degree in elementary education
at New Mexico University before marrying at 22. She
then gave birth to five children in seven years, and
helped to manage a string of successful family
businesses. None of our businesses were given to us
by our relatives,” she says of her early days. “We
worked very very hard, and we were very poor.”
But raising their family’s quality of life wasn’t
enough for the Apodacas; they wanted to give
something back to the wider community. Clara’s
husband Jerry entered the world of politics, where
she took on the added responsibilities of helping to
oversee her husband’s several winning political
campaigns, culminating in his election as governor
of New Mexico in 1974. It was then that she
reentered the cultural realm in a big way.
Throughout her husband’s political career, Apodaca
had spent a great deal of time visiting the museums
in Santa Fe, and she began to question why the rest
of the state couldn’t host more of its own cultural
institutions. “I felt such a need to expose New
Mexico to the arts,” she says.
And so, with her customary flair for leadership, she
took charge and did it herself. Immediately upon her
husband’s inauguration, one of Apodaca’s first
official acts was to mount the largest exhibition of
New Mexican artist Georgia O’Keefe prints yet staged,
a gala affair that the artist herself attended. The
event made a big splash, and a newfound momentum was
born.
“As New Mexico’s first lady, I made it my mission to
promote local arts,” Apodaca says. “At first people
thought, ‘What is she doing installing track
lighting in the state house lobby?’ When I entered,
there wasn’t a single piece of artwork in the
capitol. Now it’s a virtual gallery.”
A lesser woman might have been daunted at the idea
of nearly single-handedly invigorating the cultural
scene in her home state, but Apodaca shrugs off the
notion that any specialized training was needed to
get her where she is today. “I say anyone who runs a
house with a husband and five children has necessary
management skills,” she says.
After playing significant roles in the Washington,
D.C. establishment, only a project like the NHCC
could have lured Apodaca away, she says. “What made
me come back to New Mexico after 18 years is my
passionate feeling that I can make a difference by
really promoting Hispanic arts for the state, the
nation and the world,” she says.
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The National
Hispanic Cultural Center’s sprawling 52-acre
campus now plays host to exhbition spaces... |
...spaces for
the performing arts... |
...as well as
educational facilities and a world-class
genealogy library. (Photos courtesy of NHCC.) |
“I feel a great responsibility
here to serve our community,” she continues. “Our
center is the only truly national and international
Hispanic cultural center,” Apodaca says.
The National Hispanic Cultural Center, which opened
its doors in 2000, represents a remarkable
achievement and a dream nearly twenty years in the
making. The brainchild of just a handful of
prominent Hispanic Albuquerque community leaders,
its sprawling 52-acre campus now plays host to
exhibition spaces for the visual and performing arts,
as well educational facilities and a world-class
genealogy library. An internationally linked
organization that has close ties with Mexican
cultural institutions and the royal family of Spain,
the Center mounts everything from operatic
productions to gala balls to art shows and flamenco
festivals. Edward James Olmos recently chose to
premier his new film Walkout at the Center.
Within the next decade, the NHCC will round out its
campus with the addition of two more structures, one
dedicated to educational programming and another
that will serve as its International Center. But in
just three years, the NHCC is destined to complete
its masterwork – a 4,000 square foot fresco
depicting 3,000 years of Hispanic history. “The
fresco is a perfect example of the type of things
we’re doing which are of national significance,”
Apodaca says. “Sunset Magazine and USA Today have
both already run large features on our work in
progress. When it’s completed, it’s going to be the
gem of Albuquerque, the state, and, I believe,
nationally.”
Even though initially the notion of a national
Hispanic cultural center encountered little
resistance, it nevertheless required strong
determination to realize. “When we opened our doors,
there was a big article in the Los Angeles Times
saying ‘Why Albuquerque? Why not here?’ It happened
here because they had the vision and the tenacity to
make it happen,” Apodaca says.
A non-profit entity now under the umbrella of the
state government, the Center is situated in the
historic and historically downtrodden Barelas
neighborhood, and not by accident. “They put it here
for a purpose,” Apodaca says. “The Barelas
neighborhood is the poorest section of our city,
with a lot of Hispanic families. They said, let’s
really let it represent the locals, and put it
someplace where they’ll be able to come and be a
part of it. They could have put it in a wealthier
part of town, but then it would have been located in
an Anglo neighborhood.”
The Center and the city’s vision is paying off, not
just for the Barelas area, which is undergoing a
mini-renaissance thanks to its newest high-profile
tourist attraction, but it is also changing the face
of its host city. “What’s good for us is also good
for Albuquerque,” she says. “Everyone comes to
Albuquerque because of the airport and then drives
right to Santa Fe. People don’t know about a lot of
the local artists.”
By highlighting the entirety of Hispanic culture,
though, Apodaca believes that the Center
participates in a national dialogue, generating a
greater awareness that can only better
cross-cultural interactions. “When people come and
see how proud we are of our cultural heritage, I
think that improves relations,” she says.
It’s a strong mandate that keeps the NHCC’s staff
hard at work. As executive director, Apodaca says it
takes 80 percent of her time to just raise the
necessary funds to keep the Center operational. “I
have a lunch scheduled every day,” Apodaca says.
“I’m always reaching out to the community [and]
potential donors.” But this busy mother of five and
grandmother of seven says she still never gets
sidetracked from the most important things in life.
“I always make time for my family,” Apodaca says.
“My family comes first.” |
