MONTOYA FAMILY MEMORIAL for SACRAMENTO ARTIST AND POET Maestro JOSÉ MONTOYA

Date:  Thursday, January 23, 2014

Time:   6:00-9:00 PM Doors open at 6:00PM

Location: Crest Theater, 1013 K Street
SACRAMENTO, CA  95814
MAP

Ceremony and Participants: Indigenous and Catholic Ceremony, Dolores Huerta, Luis Valdez,Edward James Olmos, Paul Chavez, Arturo Rodriguez, National Compadres Network/Circulo de Hombres, Malaquias Montoya, Joe Montoya, Jr, Culture Clash members, Vincent Montoya, Cesar E. Chavez Chapter AGIF Color Guard, Royal Chicano Air Force, Poets Lorna Dee Cervantes and Ana Castillo, Daniel Valdez, Danza Azteca, and Mariachi Zacatecas

On Thursday, January 23, 2014, the children of José Montoya, Sacramento educator, artist, poet, and activist who died after a courageous battle with cancer, at the age of 81 on September 25, 2013, will host an evening of tribute through dance, song and poetry at Sacramento’s Crest Theater. The public commemoration of his life will include tributes by the legendary Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; Paul Chavez, son of Cesar E. Chavez and President of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers of America; Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino and writer and director of Zoot Suit and La Bamba; and Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning actor Edward James Olmos.  Montoya, 2002-2004 Poet Laureate of Sacramento and hailed as the godfather of Chicano poetry will also be commemorated by American Book Award recipients, Lorna Dee Cervantes and Ana Castillo, and the National Compadres Network will announce the José Montoya “La Cultura Cura” Scholarship for Higher Education.  Several family members will present including Jose’s brother, artist Malaquias Montoya, and sons-Joe Montoya, Jr., founder of Sacramento’s Poetry Unplugged, Richard Montoya, Culture Clash co-founder and actor, and Vincent Montoya, musician, singer, and songwriter.

Montoya, professor emeritus of Art Education at CSUS was born in New Mexico, but grew up in California’s Central Valley. He entered San Diego City College as an art student shortly after the Korean War and later transferred to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA. He graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in 1962 and began his career as a teacher at Wheatland Union High School in northern California, until he earned his M.A. degree in 1971 at California State University Sacramento. He then taught for over 27 years in the Department of Art Education at CSUS.  Montoya is the author of three collections of poetry, including the highly acclaimed In Formation: 20 Years of Joda.  Montoya coined the phrases, “la cultura cura” or “culture heals” and “la locura cura” or “craziness heals” as a way to explain the unconventionally successful creativity of the RCAF, the Royal Chicano Air Force, a group of Chicano artists - mostly professors and students- that he co-founded and lead for decades and who were and still are prolific Sacramento artist activists devoted to advancing social justice through visual and performing arts.  

This free, public event planned in Sacramento is the only Montoya-family produced tribute event that will honor the memory of Montoya and his contributions in all of the many worlds in which he served including his early years in New Mexico, California’s Central Valley, the US Navy, his college life, teaching, the arts, and his activism. Doors open at 6:00 PM and seats are first-come, first-served.

In support of the Montoya Family, the National Compadres Network has offered to alleviate the high flow of communications to the family. Please submit your interest in attendance or your kind message by sending your response to this email or this blog. Tel. (831) 205-1822. We will collect this information and provide to the family on your behalf. Thank you for this kindness.