Also known as: lkaptain
Building community is central to our quest to create, perform, educate, and make music in a new century. In Nahuatl culture, education is referred to as neyolmelahualiztli, the “process of giving direction to people’s potential.†Traditionally, this direction has been a collective enterprise, focused upon community. Before the twentieth century, the raison d’etre of most artists, musicians, and actors was to articulate the connection between the individual and his or her environment, to explore the tenuous boundaries between personal and public identities. As an administrator, a teacher, and a musician, I take the principle of a “community of artists†quite seriously. Our goal as educators must be twofold—not only to provide vital first-stage support to foster individual creative self-awareness, expression, and personal growth, but also to motivate our students to reach out and explore the potential of emerging areas of public consciousness. I believe that we need to teach them, both by word and personal example, to examine and challenge cultural and social barriers where they encounter them, to record through their art the vibrant dynamics of our society, and to recognize their own accountability as active and necessary contributors to this culture. We must increase the visibility of our creative actions and accomplishments and place more emphasis upon the sort of unique, interdisciplinary collaborations that establish enabling mechanisms for wider public access to culture and the arts. As individual artists, we leave but a footprint. Together, we create monuments. Specialties Bilingual (Spanish/English), leadership, effective presentations, organizational communication, transformative practices in organizations, faculty development (higher education), fund raising, community partnerships, life-long learning, employing technology to improve learning and creativity, world music (most specifically Latin America), percussion instruments, facilitation
