President
Abril “Andi” Garcia Linn
Andi was born into a family of artists. Growing up she participated in the family tradition of teatro and costume/mask making. She is an artist, arts instructor, seamstress, poet, child care provider, cultural arts advocate and a mother of two children. She has over 15 years of experience working with various non-profit cultural arts organizations as an event coordinator, office administrator, board member, instructor, volunteer and artist. A few of the organizations she has worked with include, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, JumpStart Performance Company, Centro Cultural Aztlan, Martinez Street Women’s Center, Fuerza Unida, Labor Serena and many more. She is currently a board member for Atta Girl Productions. A few of her accomplishments include: A six year term as board member for San Anto Cultural Arts (2003-2009). Three of which she served as Board President. She is a founding member of the poetry/performance group Women of Ill Repute:Refute. The group performed over 30 shows across the country and donated all proceeds to the Rape Crisis Center. She is currently working as an arts and craft instructor and nursery attendant for Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program.
Vice-President
Rodolfo Lopez, J.D.
Rodolfo is a Co-Founder and past President of the Conjunto Heritage Taller Board of Directors. Born in San Antonio, the Mecca of Conjunto music, Rodolfo was immersed in this happy toe-tapping music from day one. At the age of 50, he bought a bajo sexto and learned to play the music that he had heard all his life, and today, he often accompanies CHT students at community performances, as well as in their accordion classes. Rodolfo has been a resident with the Texas Commission on the Arts for 17 years, and in that capacity, founded the Conjunto Program at the Teatro de Artes de Juan Seguin 17 years ago. Dedicated to the perpetuation of Conjunto music, Rodolfo continues to recruit “youth of all ages” to learn, and hopefully teach others, the music he loves.
Treasurer
Jack Harmon
Jack was born in New York City in 1950 and has lived most of his life there, interrupted only by long periods of international travel for business and pleasure. New York in the 50′s was fertile ground for American musical forms, and Jack was immersed in all of it. His passion for various traditional idioms was fueled by listening to Pete and Mike Seeger, Leadbelly, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Hank Williams, and a host of others. Upon his arrival in San Antonio in 2011, he was introduced to a new folk form to fall in love with and explore — Conjunto. An avid life-long guitarist, he was surprised to learn that the bajo sexto was not a 12-string guitar. Jack brings to the Taller 40 years of experience in the business world, including 25 years as the sole proprietor of his own firm, and currently serves as CHT’s Treasurer.
Secretary
Adriana Flores
Adriana was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She graduated from Texas A&M University at College Station with a Bachelors Degree in English, with minors in History and Marketing. She obtained her Master of Science in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked for the San Antonio Public Library for 10 years and left as a Branch Manager of the Johnston Library to raise her two young children. Her love of literature, music and education returned her to work with her family music business, Alamo Music Center. She runs Alamo Music Center with her two nephews, continuing its history into its fourth generation. She shares her love of music and the arts with her two sons, as they spend many weekends listening, learning and exploring all forms of arts in San Antonio.
Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, Ph.D.
Dr. Rita E. Urquijo-Ruiz is a Mexicana/Chicana queer/jota writer, activist, and performer from the México/U.S. borderlands. She was recently promoted as a Professor of Spanish and Chicanx/Latinx cultural studies at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. Her academic interests are Mexican and Chicanx literatures/cultures, gender and sexuality, as well as film, theater and performance studies. Her writings have been published in Ollantay Theatre Magazine, Nerter (Spain), Chicana/Latina Studies:The Journal of MALCS, andAztlán. She is a co-editor of four books: El Mundo Zurdo (I and II): Selected Works from the Meetings of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa (Aunt Lute Press, 2010 & 2012), Global Mexican Cultural Productions (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011), and Barrio Dreams: Selected Plays by Silviana Wood (University of Arizona Press, 2016). She is the author of Wild Tongues: Transnational Mexican Popular Culture (UT Press: Chicana Matters Series, 2012). She also has a peladita, malcriada, and hocicona artistic alter ego known as “La Chata-Rita” who appears in community and university stages in San Antonio.
Jennifer Negrete
Jen was born in Alice, Texas, and raised (primarily) in San Antonio. Her military family background influenced her love of travel, culture, and service. At the same time, her childhood days at her grandparents’ Westside home nurtured her adoration of Mexican/Tex-Mex music, food, and tradition. She graduated with a BSBA from the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio) with a focus in Social Marketing. She obtained her Master of Science in Digital Marketing and Analytics from St. Edward’s University (Austin). Jen worked in music retail for 14 years and the financial industry for 17 years before establishing her company, Imagina Consulting, and Solutions. Jen’s passion for service is evident in her community work. She has volunteered her time and talent to organizations such as Girl Scouts of America, the U.S. Army Medical Department Museum, Family Service Association of San Antonio, Project Amigo, the Ronald McDonald House, United Way, and St. Edward’s University GBSA and Academic Council. Furthermore, she served as San Anto Cultural Arts’ Interim Director for six months, their Board President for four years, and presently, sits on their Advisory Committee. Currently, she serves as a member of the University of the Incarnate Word Alumni and the Conjunto Heritage Taller boards and has a community ukulele group called River City Strummers.