National Museum of Mexican Art names its new president

The search for the National Museum of Mexican Art’s new director is over.

José Ochoa, the founding executive director of the Chicago High School for the Arts, will assume leadership as president and CEO of the Pilsen museum on Tuesday.

In a phone call Friday with the Sun-Times, Ochoa said he has big shoes to fill — those of the recently retired Carlos Tortolero.

As the founder of the NMMA, Tortolero helped the attraction become the first Latino museum to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Nearly 40 years later, it’s thriving.

Ochoa said among his plans for the museum is the expansion of the Yollicali Arts Reach program for youth ages 12 to 24. The museum purchased an 8,600-square-foot firehouse in Little Village for redevelopment to “ensure that [the museum] can provide as many opportunities for as many kids as possible,” Ochoa said.

Ochoa’s resume is long: He worked in Nashville as superintendent of cultural arts, where he supervised the city’s dance, music, art, theater and special events departments along with two art museums.

Ochoas also served as president and artistic director of ChiArts, the Chicago High School for the Arts.

But returning to museums has always been close to his heart.

“I have had this empty feeling,” he said. “And I feel like I’m back home. So all the things that I’ve learned in life, all these experiences, I can bring back here and really be a part of my family and my community, and serve my community. My whole career prepared me for this moment.”

A self-identified Chicano, he spent most of his adolescence in the small town of Robstown, Texas, which sits about 20 miles west of Corpus Christi.

Robstown was at the time one of the poorest cities in Texas. In 1972, it was the site of a historic Chicano student walk out that took place at Robstown High School, when students protested police brutality and demanded equal rights for agricultural workers.

It was there, years later, that his high school band director Carlos Cabrera — who participated in the walk out — truly ignited Ochoa’s passion for the arts.

According to Ochoa, Cabrera in his youth was told by a school counselor that he should just become a mechanic. He instead decided to follow his passion for music.

Inspired by Cabrera’s story, Ochoa went on to play the flute and seek an education in the performing arts.

After graduating from college, Ochoa traveled to Honduras to teach music and helped to found a music school on the island of Roatán.

Ochoa got emotional while thinking about his former students, in particular, Jonathan Herrera Soto, who went on from ChiArts to Yale University for a master of fine arts.

After reconnecting with Herrera and a few others, he got to thinking: “‘Oh my God, the same way Mr. Cabrera broke his glass ceiling, I worked hard to break mine. And look at these young people and what they’re doing in their lives.”