Julia Chavez, ELAC Theater Department

Julia Chavez is a free-spirited Chicana actress, artist, and dancer who was born and raised in Los Angeles. She has been performing in theatre, dance, and music showcases since 2013 and is now studying Theatre with an Acting Emphasis at East Los Angeles College. She was recently awarded a 2023 Musical Theatre Initiative Dance Finalist at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Her next show coming up is “FAITH” by Evelina Fernandez directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela where she is playing the lead, Faith, and will be singing, dancing, and acting. Faith opens up on October 13 and showcases through 10/22. Julia also has a passion for fashion and has a Latina owned sustainable clothing brand that you can find on Instagram @ jewlz.gemz.

Betty Avila
Arts Administrator and Cultural Producer

Betty Avila (she/her) grew up in the Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Cypress Park. Her work lies at the intersection of the arts and social justice, with a particular focus on community building, public space, and youth empowerment Betty held positions with the Getty Research Institute, The Music Center, and the Levitt Pavilion, before becoming the Executive Director of Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG) in 2015, an organization with a 48-year, nationally recognized legacy of empowering Chicana/o and Latinx communities of Los Angeles through the arts. Under Betty’s leadership SHG acquired a permanent headquarters for its operations in 2018, and paid off the building’s mortgage in 2022, ensuring SHG’s permanence on the Eastside of Los Angeles for future generations. Betty is a passionate arts advocate who centers equity and justice. She is the Chair of the Latinx Arts Alliance, a collective of 5 Latinx focused arts organizations: Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG), Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM), Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), and La Plaza de Cultura y Artes who advocate for greater Latinx representation in arts and culture in Los Angeles and beyond.She sat on the inaugural Advisory Committee for Los Angeles County's Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative as an appointee of Supervisor Hilda Solis, and also sits on the boards of Little Tokyo Service Center, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and People for Mobility Justice, of which she is a founding board member.

Mike Fong
Assemblymember, 49th District of the California State Assembly
a49.asmdc.org

Mike Fong was elected to the 49th District of the California State Assembly in February 2022, representing Alhambra, Arcadia, El Monte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena, Temple City, as well as the unincorporated areas of South San Gabriel, North El Monte, and East Pasadena. In the Assembly, Mike serves on the Appropriations; Banking and Finance; Privacy and Consumer Protection; Rules; and Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committees. His priorities include expanding access to quality higher education, healthcare, protecting the environment, ensuring public safety, creating jobs, and addressing homelessness. As a former Trustee of the Los Angeles Community College District, he advocated for policies that increased student success, improved educational access and quality, and expanded workforce education and training programs throughout the District. Last year, he helped secure $1,000,000 in state funding, that will enable VPAM and ELAC to expand the Museum Studies Certificate Program to all nine colleges of the LACCD and to produce a complete inventory and digitization of the museum’s 9000-piece permanent collection,making it more accessible and available to ELAC’s students, other post secondary institutions, K-12 schools, as well as the general public.

Charlie James Gallery
accepted by Charlie James and Ever Valasquez
cjamesgallery.com

For more than fifteen years, Charlie James Gallery has championed the work of visionary artists who engage with significant artistic, cultural, and political concerns. Founded in 2008 in Chinatown, Los Angeles, and currently operating two spaces on Chung King Road, Charlie James Gallery has made a name for itself supporting emerging and mid-career artists from Los Angeles, many of whom are from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds in the arts. In addition to presenting several solo and group exhibitions annually, the Gallery is recognized for its success in placing works by its artists in leading national museum collections, including The Broad, Hammer Museum, LACMA, MoCA LA, MFA Boston, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Walker Art Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others. The Gallery is led by Charlie James, Founder/Director, and Ever Velasquez, Gallery Manager.

Artist represented by Charlie James Gallery include: John Ahearn & Rigoberto Torres, Nancy Buchanan, Luke Butler, Danie Cansino, Patrisse Cullors, Jay Lynn Gomez, Glenn Hardy, Jr., Lucia Hierro, Nery Gabriel Lemus, Manuel López, Narsiso Martinez, Patrick Martinez, noé olivas, William Powhida, Lee Quiñones, Kristopher Raos, Erika Rothenberg, and Shizu Saldamando.

Giant Robot
accepted by Eric Nakamura
giantrobot.com

Eric Nakamura co-founded Giant Robot (GR) magazine in 1994, and grew the enterprise out of his garage. The publication began as a stapled and photocopied zine that quickly became a magnet for Asian American creatives who contributed to its pages. Over the 16 years of its publication, GR celebrated Asian and Asian American culture and identity by highlighting often overlooked or underrepresented Asian American artists, writers, musicians (especially punk and indie bands), and designers. Through the 1990’s and 2000’s GR helped foster a pan-Asian American identity and community of artists, creatives, and enthusiasts. The magazine and subsequent GR stores and galleries brought people together through history, music, art, films, literature, toys, apparel, and food. At its peak, GR had two stores and a restaurant on Sawtelle Blvd. in West LA's Japantown; one in LA's Silver Lake; San Francisco; and New York. The GR Galleries have presented over 300 exhibitions to date, heavily showcasing Asian American artists and illustrators, with many given their first public exhibitions. GR has played a crucial role in providing representation for Asian Americans, notably in pop culture and the arts. In 2007, Giant Robot celebrated 50 issues with an exhibition: The Giant Robot Biennale, showcasing 10 artists over three floors of the Japanese American National Museum. Most recently, in 2022, GR was showcased in the exhibition Moments in Asian American Art and Activism 1968-2022 at Oxy Arts. Currently, Nakamura works in and owns the Giant Robot store and GR2 Gallery in Los Angeles,­­ which continues to offer pop culture goods and organize art exhibitions. Giant Robot continues to provide a forum for Asian Americans to tell their own stories and share their experiences, challenging dominant narratives and fostering a nuanced understanding of Asian American culture as a growing part of mainstream culture in the United States.