About Us
Jaime Chavez
Jaime Chavez is a native New Mexican Poet, community organizer, and filmmaker, who resides in the Manzano Mountains, east of Albuquerque. He is completing a collection of poems for publication, (2017) entitled 1 Cosmic Cycle. He is published in a number of New Mexico Anthologies and has served as a Poet del Pueblo in his community historically, to preserve New Mexico's culture and way of life. Every year he organizes the Day of the Dead celebration in local theaters with cutting edge poets, musicians, and artists. He just wrote and directed a film entitled Las Acequias, Lifeblood of New Mexico a 7 Caves, Windows of Aztlan Production.
Valentin Sandoval
Valentin Sandoval received the 1st Award ever at UTEP for Independent Filmmaking in 1996. He won 1st Place for Documentary at UTEP’s International Film Festival 2006 and The Rasquache Film Festival, where he received an award for Best Documentary for the film “Clamor”. The awards allowed Valentin to work on industry films that came into El Paso through 1996-2002 (films include working with Miramax, TriStar, Paramount Pictures, Wavemount Productions).
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​Valentin became SAG eligible at the age of 21 in the film “On the Border”, where he acted with Pedro Armendarez Jr, Brian Brown, Daniel Baldwin, to name a few). He then worked as a lead actor in the acclaimed Cuban playwright Maria Irene Fornes’ play, “The Conduct of Life”. He went on to act on multiple plays in El Paso, and was the co-creator of a comedy troupe, “Chuco Town Raize”, that performed in Austin.
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Valentin Sandoval
Kiko Rodriguez
Frontera Bugalu is a musical project founded by accordionist and composer Kiko Rodriguez (from Fuga) in El Paso, Texas in 2011. Originally established to cover songs by border composers from Texas, it eventually became its own creative project with the release of its debut album in 2011. The band made its name by performing an energetic fusion of border folk music with carribean influences.
"Frontera Buglaú plays raw, edgy socially conscious folk music that's danceable. The norteño influence is immediately evident."
-SA Current
The unique fusion of button accordion, harp, piano, and clarinet, the music creates a connection between traditional border music, big city mambo and Caribbean music that swept through Mexico in the 30's. Drawing inspiration from musicians such as Cuban sonero Beny More and mambo master Perez Prado, the result is a unique sound, reflective of the underground “Pachuco” scene of El Paso and Juarez.
FRONTERA BUGALU highlights the roots of Latin music, as well as composers from the El Paso and borderland areas who have had a tremendous influence on modern Latin music.
El nombre de la agrupación surgió en homenaje al Bugalú, una corriente musical surgida entre las comunidades cubanas y puertorriqueñas en el Nueva York de los 60s y 70s, y la música tropical que se bailaba en las fronteras de México y Estados Unidos de esa misma época.
Chaman Tania Rodriguez
Born and raised on the US Mexico border town of El Paso, TX, Chamán (Tania Glenn Rodriguez) had the unique experience of being immersed in bilingual culture, art and music. Her musical influences had enormous range. Her grandmother had trained as a classical pianist, was an admirer of performers like Pedro Infante, Agustin Lara, and enjoyed a range of operas . Her grandfather was a singer, and together her grandparents would often gather members of her family to play and perform a wide range of corridos, tangos, boleros. The border environment also introduced Chamán to performers like Juan Gabriel and Maldita Vecindad, while growing up in American culture inspired a love of American classics such as Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, and The Beatles. With these diverse influences Chamán does not limit her music to one language nor does she limit her ability to step out into different genres.
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Emanuel Martinez
Born in Denver, Colorado, Emanuel Martinez began his artistic pursuits as a means of escape from an oppressive childhood. As a forerunner of the contemporary mural movement that began in the late 60's, Emanuel worked in the civil rights movement with Cesar Chavez and other prominent leaders. Three of the art works he did in that era are now in the permanent collection of The Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
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The work of this prolific, highly versatile artist has won him numerous awards: including the Colorado Governors Award For Excellence in the Arts(1985), the Denver Mayors Award for Excellence in the Arts(1995) and the Denver Civil Rights award in 2001. Andrew Connors, a former curator at the National Museum of American Art states in a published book on Emanuel's work; "As an educator and community activist, Martinez has especially helped young people find ways to make their voices heard. We can all find parts of ourselves of our dreams in his artwork because he recreates the triumphs of the individual and at the same time affirms a collective identity in his murals, paintings, prints and sculptures. As an artist Emanuel acts locally with a significance that is national."
Daniel Schreck
Daniel Wells Schreck has been in the foundation business since 1989-present. He has been a board member, 1974-present, and past President of the Abelard Foundation, 2006-2009. He was introduced to the Funding Exchange by Saquaro board member, Teresa Juarez, where Ray Santiago was program officer to his donor-advised fund, 1990.
Daniel Wells Schreck was a very-actively participating member of NNG (National Network of Grantmakers) and was on the conference planning committee for the Albuquerque conference of 1995, where NNG's first indigenous peoples' day occurred, an idea initiated by Ingrid Washinawatok, although Schreck had a list of fifty groups that needed to participate in his hand when Ingrid proposed the idea.
Schreck first met PDF ED Paul Haible at a Big Mountain prayer vigil in honor of MLK's birthday, at Teddy Begay's hogan, in 1990.
Schreck is a co-founder of the Teh-luh-lah Children's Healing and Learning Center in Chimayo, NM with his companera, Teresa Juarez. They are also operating a family farm.
PDF board member Iva Kaufman is a former NNG colleague. Ali El-Issa, as well, is a co-producer of "The St. Patrick's Battalion" DVD with Daniel. Lori Goodman, Teresa Juarez, and previous grantee, Mildred McClain, of Savannah, GA, went to Paris last year for COP 21. Daniel, also, visited the exhibit of surrealist art at the Pompidou Center, especially the Andre Breton display of his library. McClain and Goodman oversaw the renewal of the Schreck/Juarez wedding vows on the Isis (lovers) bridge behind Notre Dame Cathedral with the bouquet being thrown into the Seine.
Schreck continues his work with PDF with his donor-advised, The Aztlan Fund, which supports work in indigenous country, and tries to, at least at a seed level, to continue the work of the Paul Robeson Fund for Film and Media at the Funding Exchange. The late Saul Landau was very instrumental in mentoring Daniel on the idea of becoming an executive producer, and to fund indigenous people to retain their intellectual property rights by filming their own cultural material.
Gabriel Baca
A New Mexico-born filmmaker, Gabriel became a boom operator at age 15, but his first introduction to film came earlier during the production of Blood In Blood Out (Hollywood Pictures, 1993). His father, Jimmy Santiago Baca, the writer and executive producer of the film, brought Gabriel on-set, planting the seed of his future endeavors.
At 17, Gabriel started taking criminal justice and filmmaking courses and soon after began filming, editing, writing and producing documentaries. Gabriel’s credits include: Moving the River Back Home, Lost Voices, A Place to Stand, Las Acequias and more. In addition to documentary work, he has directed and produced internationally viewed music videos and artistic shorts on shoestring budgets. In 2008, he became a member of the West Coast 700 Editors Guild as an assistant editor.
Lucia Veronica Carmona
LucÃa Verónica Carmona is a native of Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, fromRarámuri (Tarahumara) ancestry, and learned to play the guitar at the age of 16 and sings traditional Mexican music, especially songs promoting social justice. LucÃa has lived in Las Cruces, NM for the last 14 years. She emigrated to the U.S. where she was involved with the Bi-National Organization for Human Rights and Environmental Justice (COREF), a lead organizer for the Colonias Development Council, board president of the farmworkers Sin Fronteras Organizing Project, and the Regional Project Coordinator in Southern New Mexico for the National Immigrant Farming Initiative. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a Minor in U.S./Mexico Border Studies from New Mexico State University. In January 2013, she joined Ngage NM, a nonprofit organization based in Doña Ana County, to advance an Initiative on Education from prenatal to Career County wide as the Community Engagement Coordinator. On May 2014, she become a W.K.Kellogg Foundation Fellow as part of the 1st Class of Community Leadership Network Program hoping to create an interactive educational project based on Mexican indigenous tradition. Recently, in July 2015, she was awarded as new fellow member by the Native American Community Academy (NACA) Inspired Schools Network Program. Ms. Carmona will be working over the next two years in the effort to open a Charter School K-5 utilizing Mesoamerican Indigenous Concepts as part of the curriculum. This project will be opened in Las Cruces, NM area.
David Luis Leal Cortez
David Luis Leal Cortez. David is a writer, filmmaker and former political operative, who has worked on local, state, and national campaigns in northern New Mexico. He is from the Washington, DC area and graduated from the College of Santa Fe in Moving Image Arts. He has worked with art collectives like American Dust and Meow Wolf. David is a contributor to LiveTaos.com and The New Mexico Inquisition, New Mexico’s only source of political satire.
He directed his first feature length documentary, Drilling Mora County, about the first county in the US to ban fracking in 2017 with support from the Max and Anna Levinson Foundation and the Mora County Economic Development Corporation.
He is currently producing Successful Outlaw about biker builder and platero, Pepe Rochon. He continues to cover local and national issues with short video reports.
Recent interview with David Luis Leal Cortez on Santa Fe’s KSFR Cinema Scope with Stu Goswick. The show reports on New Mexico based filmmakers. http://cinemascope.libsyn.com/cinemascope-march-10-2017-segment-1-0
News coverage of Drilling Mora County.
http://www.taosnews.com/stories/to-frack-or-not-to-frack,46043
https://www.abqjournal.com/1128012/small-village-hip-to-whats-going-on.html
Gloria Castillo
Gloria Castillo is the Founder of BioRegional Strategies (BRS). BioRegional Strategies is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable strategies to improve the quality of life for individuals, families and communities. BRS was established in 1993 as a direct culmination of her lifelong involvement in the Southwest as an organizer in Texas and New Mexico.After attending the University of Texas in the mid-seventie at the age of 17, Gloria began her life- long work within her community as a community activist, and advocate for the civil rights of all people.
BioRegional Strategies was founded to promote economic development based on Regeneration and Renewal. At BRS, we believe that the technology exists to enable families, neighborhoods, and communities to plan for a peaceable transition from an economy based on Scarcity and unnecessary Depletion of our remaining natural resources, to an economy based on agri-fuels and agri-fibers that promotes bio-regional self-reliance. A BioRegional Economy is one that values strengthening local, economies and can assist individuals and local communities to make the transition to a more self-reliant and sustainable lifestyle.
Ms. Castillo is a member in good standing of Tap Pilam Clan, Nacion Coahuilteca, registered with the State of Texas as American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT*SCM). In addition to attending the University of Texas, Gloria studied ed theology at the Institute for Christian Studies (Texas) and also studied Oriental Medicine & Acupuncture at the Institute for Traditional Medicine (Santa Fe, NM).
This is her latest endeavor coordinating the artists that reflect the ongoing work of the Aztlan Fund. To be associated with the collective of artists that continue the mission of community activism, as we fondly describe as the “movimento” is an honor. “I’m proud to be associated with the Aztlan Fund and play a role in featuring the many gifted artists that have contributed to the struggle and defended our communities with grace and elegance.”