2001 Latino Heritage Local Heroes: Elena E. Robles
Director of Art and Programs for the Mexican Heritage Corporation
Ms. Robles holds a degree in Economics from Stanford University, but is better known as a cultural arts presenter, dance anthropologist, and choreographer. She has received multiple California Arts Council individual artist awards, including fellowships in choreography and ethnic dance from the National Endowment for the Arts. Elena’s knowledge of and passion for sharing Mexican cultural arts and traditions made her a natural candidate for the new cultural arts center built by the Mexican Heritage Corporation in San Jose, where she served as Director of Arts and Programming for nearly a year.
Prior to that, her five years as Executive Director of the Centro Cultural Mexicano of the Consulate of Mexico in San Jose, involved her in facilitating binational cultural, sports, and educational projects as well as monitoring immigration and social services issues in a four county jurisdiction. She was active in conceptionalizing and conducting binational diplomatic and educational exchanges as well as promoting international trade and commerce conferences.
Directing the Stanford University Ballet Folklorico, Ms. Robles also founded Folklorico Nacional Mexicano, Folklorico Nacional Juvenil, and El Grito de la Cultura dance academy, which cumulatively perform over fifty times per year. She has used her knowledge of the non-profit sector to help incorporate several other community groups, in particular within the Spanish-speaking community, sharing grant writing and fund development skills with start-up groups, including soccer youth programs, Latino health initiatives, traditional Latino music ensembles, both Spanish and English literacy promotion, and for youth educational scholarship efforts.
As a presenter and promoter of multicultural events, her projects range from local neighborhood arts programs to events as significant as the Bay Area visit of Pope John Paul in 1987, the San Francisco World Economic Summit of 1990, and the Tenth Annual San Jose International Mariachi Conference and Festival in 2001. She is particularly proud of the 1986 California statewide Danzantes Unidos Festival in which she introduced the first workshop studies of Aztec ceremonial dance to the United States folkloric dance movement that birthed a now-vibrant traditional dance movement of its own.
On September 16, "Ms Elena" as she is known to her students, will celebrate thirty years of cultural arts advocacy, community activism, and heritage program development. She will be giving her 25th annual free Festival de la Vida family celebration this October in honor of the Mexican festivities for All Souls Day. In her spare time she is a journalist and photographer for the bilingual newspaper, La Oferta Review.
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