Bronzeville Center for the Arts to Welcome National Museum of Mexican Art Founder Carlos Tortolero

MILWAUKEE – The Bronzeville Center for the Arts (BCA) today announced that Carlos Tortolero, founder and president emeritus of the National Museum of Mexican Art, will be the next featured speaker in From the Ground Up: Inspiring Institutions from Origins to Operations, BCA’s National Speaker Series. Tortolero will join BCA Executive Director Ra Joy on Thursday, Dec. 10, at Radio Milwaukee for a free fireside conversation about building a lasting cultural institution from the ground up. The event is presented in collaboration with the Chipstone Foundation.

NMMA is widely considered the premier Mexican cultural museum in the nation and was the first Latino museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It began in 1982 as an idea among a group of Chicago Public Schools educators with no money and no building. When it opened in 1987, it did so in a leased Chicago Park District building, and it has offered free admission to every visitor ever since. Fourteen years later, in 2001, NMMA opened its 48,000-square-foot flagship home in Chicago.

“Carlos Tortolero is a cultural visionary and an institution builder,” said Joy. “With a group of fellow teachers, about $900, and no building, he created what he describes as the ‘largest cultural organization based on the Mexican culture outside of Mexico.’ Their journey mirrors the path we are walking in Bronzeville. The lessons they learned are ones we want our whole community to hear: keep a museum rooted in the community whose story it tells, carry out a multifaceted mission to celebrate and cultivate the arts, and choose coalition over competition.”

In a wide-ranging conversation, Tortolero and Joy will trace NMMA’s story from its founding to its flagship home and explore what a young institution can learn from it, including:

• how NMMA started without money or a building, and what sustained it through 14 years in a leased home
• why free admission was non-negotiable, and how NMMA’s financial model keeps the doors open every day
• what it means to be a “first-voice” institution, curated and directed by the community whose story it tells
• the coalition model behind the Mexican Cultural Arts Alliance, which Tortolero founded, and why NMMA chose collaboration over competition
• the shared history of Black and Mexican communities in the Americas, including NMMA’s traveling exhibition “The African Presence in México: From Yanga to the Present,” which traces Afro-Mexican history and culture

“The stories of Black and Mexican communities in the Americas have always been connected, even when history books kept them apart,” said Tortolero. “I’m excited to join Ra Joy and the Bronzeville Center for the Arts in Milwaukee to talk about what becomes possible when communities build together instead of competing for scarce resources.”

Event Details

What: From the Ground Up: A Conversation with Carlos Tortolero

When: Thursday, Dec. 10, 2026 – reception and doors open at 5:30 p.m.; program and discussion at 6 p.m.

Where: Radio Milwaukee, 220 E. Pittsburgh Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53204

Admission: Free and open to the public. Seating is limited. Visit bcamke.org/fromthegroundup for more information and registration.

From the Ground Up: Inspiring Institutions from Origins to Operations launched with Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. His conversation with Joy can be viewed at bcamke.org/fromthegroundup. Each installment features a leader who built a major institution rooted in community. The series puts BCA in dialogue with leading cultural institutions as it grows from its current home at Gallery 507 toward a future museum of Black art and culture at the northeast corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and North Avenue.

About the National Museum of Mexican Art

Located in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, the National Museum of Mexican Art is one of the country’s most prominent Latino cultural organizations and the only nationally accredited museum dedicated to Mexican art and culture. In 2020, the Museum earned the honor of being named one of America’s Cultural Treasures by the Ford Foundation. Its Permanent Collection consists of more than 22,000 artworks. The Museum has presented over 150 exhibitions, provides arts education to 52,000 students each year and serves over 150,000 annual visitors from 60 countries. The Education Department is nationally recognized and the Performing Arts Department presents events at the Museum, at Millennium Park and nationally and internationally. Admission to the Museum is always free. For more information, visit www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org.

About Carlos Tortolero

Carlos Tortolero is president emeritus and founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) in Chicago, the first accredited Latino museum in the U.S. and the largest cultural organization based on Mexican culture outside of Mexico. From 1975 to 1987, he worked as a teacher, counselor and administrator in Chicago Public Schools. During that time, he founded the museum in 1982, and it opened its doors in 1987. NMMA has been free since day one and holds a collection of more than 22,000 pieces. Tortolero retired as president at the end of 2023.

Tortolero created the Mexican Cultural Arts Alliance, a national organization uniting eight organizations in the U.S. and Mexico. He also created the Yollocalli Youth program, the only youth program in the nation to win two White House awards. He co-founded the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance and the Sor Juana Festival. His honors include the Ohtli Award, the highest honor given by Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department; the American Alliance of Museums Chair Award; the City of Chicago’s Fifth Star Award; and MALDEF’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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