Executive Director Betty Avila Sees the Future Through an Equity-Focused Lens
By: Dani Nalangan
Betty Avila brings equity to “art with a big A.”
First taking on directorship seven years ago as a young professional, Avila learned just how to blaze the trail of a nearly fifty year arts organization with its historical legacy on her back. Three years later, and she’s SHG’s sole Executive Director.
When Avila’s not busy spearheading initiatives or in one of her many meetings however, she’s joking and chatting with staff. “Sorry, I tend to curse a lot,” she laughed during my first staff meeting with the team—a fitting introduction to someone who I would eventually find to be a compassionate, down-to-earth, and community-oriented leader.
I had the opportunity to squeeze a call during her busy schedule to learn who the Executive Director is behind her thick glasses frames and sharp office attire. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Alright. First of all, I'm curious about your upbringing—whether you're an L.A. native or not—and what your experience going to school was like?
A: I grew up in the Cypress Park neighborhood of Northeast L.A., which, until late-’80s and ‘90s was not a safe place to live. It dealt with a lot of the same issues that Boyle Heights and East L.A. dealt with in terms of being a highly under-resourced community, a lot of gang violence. It was tough, really, but I also felt like I was very proud. I've always been very proud of my neighborhood. I sort of went to school throughout Northeast L.A., and then I went to high school in Boyle Heights. And I went to college in Claremont, I went to Pitzer. That was a challenging experience, initially. I think just the culture shock of going to a private, small, liberal arts college, and encountering a level of wealth that I had never experienced, both within like the institution itself, but also like my fellow students, but navigated and had a really good experience overall. Learned a lot while I was there, and didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I was a lit. major. I was always interested in the arts, that was something that had always caught my attention. I grew up as a folklorico dancer, art and culture was something that was important to me. And so I interned at the Getty the summer of my junior year, the summer before my senior year, rather. That kind of opened up the door to “Oh, this is actually a viable career path,” and, “How do I navigate this to serve my community and communities like mine?” And so that's really what got me to go down this path.
Q: So you mentioned going to Pitzer College for literature and also being interested in art. I'm interested in what your relationship was with it growing up? I know you mentioned being a dancer and all that, but what were your first experiences with art?
A: My dad and my uncles are all musicians, and they played for a long time as a trio or a quartet, I guess. They played traditional Norteño-style music, a Mexican genre, so I always had that as an element in my life. I started to dance folklorico when I was eight years old, and I did that and would perform and everything until I was eighteen, basically until I went to college—that’s the only reason I stopped. Yeah, I think for me, I always had a sense of cultural pride because of that, and it was not a super overt thing, it was just like, “Yeah, my father's a musician.” I would come to learn later that my grandmother was the one who taught them. She's a self taught musician, she's a crafts artist. I think to understand that it's in my family, it's part of my lineage, I feel a sense of pride over that. But I didn't really come to understand that fully until later, it was more like “Okay, this is why I cared about this, this is why this has been important to me.” And also just recognizing the power of art in social movements, in community building, in cultural identity of place. Which again, these are all things that I would experience, but I wouldn't know how to articulate that until later in life.
Q: So what did you like about dancing in particular then, I guess besides being proud of it and it being within your family already?
A: It helped me understand, actually, the diversity of Mexico, because learning the dances, wearing different dresses based on region, it taught me a lot about like, “Oh, my Mexican heritage is not a monolithic heritage,” right, there's so many different cultures, so many different styles. I learned a lot about the history of Mexico even, through the way that different populations moved into Mexico, including African culture, including German culture, which now has sort of morphed and evolved into what we understand Mexican culture to be today. So, and again, I couldn't have articulated this to you as an eight year old? Absolutely not. And part of the reason I dance too, this sounds kind of silly, but my parents wouldn't let me play baseball. And I really wanted to play baseball, but I was a “girl.” So folklorico was my other option, and I loved it.
Q: So my next question—you went into it a little bit when talking about art and community building and stuff like that—but I was reading your bio on the SHG website, and I noticed you mentioned being a really passionate advocate. You seem very dedicated to it, and I was wondering how you first got involved as an advocate?
A: I think for me, the advocacy arm, there's like literal advocacy as a specific engagement part of my job, but I think for me, having my quote-unquote job of being an intern of the Getty and experiencing “art with a big A”, in a literal cultural palace on a hill, like in the hills above Bel Air, right? Going from that to then going to a place like Self Help Graphics at the same time, and understanding, for me, the inherent value of a place like Self Help and the cultural production that comes out of a place like that. But seeing the complete like, disconnect in the distribution of resources to cultures like mine, right, versus white, eurocentric, western-centric culture, like what you see at the Getty. But I think I came away from it always thinking, how do I make it so that the work, the cultural production coming out of a community like mine is valued, that it is getting the resources that it needs, that artists are able to live off of their work in my community. Because it is as valuable, if not more. So I think that's where I take on that, that role of advocate.
Q: I also noticed that besides working here at Self Help, you are also the chair of Latinx Art Alliance, you sit on the board of the Little Tokyo Service Center, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and a board member on People For Mobility Justice. I was interested in what draws you to these types of roles and causes and what you choose to support with your work?
Betty at Paper Fashion 2019.
A: It's an active transportation organization. They're supporting communities of color that get around the county without a car and being advocates for that and educators and many other things. But I think for me the draw there was, I was kind of brought in and mentored through the process with them, by somebody who's now a dear friend. But over time, I really understood my commitment to the art is really rooted in a commitment to just creating a better space and world, and being part of a collective effort to better the world around me. And so it's what does a better community look like? What does a healthy community look like? So it's not just art, right? Because there's many aspects to what that is, and I think that's where I found my role within PMJ. Also, my partner does not drive, and he's getting around at the time a lot on bike and public transit, so I had a direct personal connection too.
But with the other orgs, like CCI, that's an organization that's statewide and now even has sort of a national presence in terms of how it's making an impact in the art field, specifically to support artists and individual creatives. So that's a really important thing to me, and they provide a service that I think a lot of other organizations do not, or services, I should say. And I've benefited personally from their work. I got a scholarship to go to a week-long leadership institute in San Antonio. And so understanding even just, you know, the impact on the individuals that they have. With the Little Tokyo Service Center, they're actually an affordable housing, a community developer, with a lot of direct services programs. Little Tokyo is a place that I spend a lot of time in. I play there, I go there in my free time, because I really love the community. I love the food, I love going to the shops, and then I have a very deep respect for the JA community and their activist work. They just do so much good work in the community, and they actively weave in art and culture into their work. They're dealing with things like, you know, homelessness, and they have some senior housing and they do programs for seniors. They support the local businesses and come up with initiatives to support these historically Japanese businesses. So they're coming at this sort of bigger goal of bettering the community through a very different approach, but a very much aligned approach. So yeah, I have a deep respect for them and the work they do. And they have been a great ally to organizations in Boyle Heights and to Self Help Graphics. I was really honored that they asked me to join the board and that I could give back in some way.
Q: So going back, right out of college, I'm wondering, what were your first experiences with SHG? How did you end up getting the role here? Were there jobs along the way?
A: I mean, my experience at Self Help, I could go to events, like big events. They have the Day of the Dead, the Fourth of July. And those events are outside, like in the parking lot. And I didn't actually go inside the building for a long time. And when I did, I had this really important moment that really solidified for me like, “Oh, this is where I need to be.” If my goal is to leverage art and culture, as a tool for community empowerment, for social change, this is the place. And so I spent my career really kind of wanting, aspiring, I think, to be at a place like Self Help. Having experienced other types of organizations, like I was at The Music Center which is a big performing arts institution, I was at an organization in MacArthur Park, which was a little bit more grassroots, a lot more grassroots, I should say. So I've gotten to experience different types of approaches to the work, but I have always had a love of Self Help Graphics as an organization, as a holder of space, as a steward of culture and its legacy. And so when the opportunity opened up, it was a little bit scary, actually. I was young, coming into a role that held a lot of responsibility, and you know, very high expectations. I was terrified, I was honestly mortified. And when I said yes, I had anxiety that I never experienced in my life, I think out of the sense of obligation, like “Oh, I have to really step up and do everything I can to support this place.” So yeah, I think I would have in some way shape or form crossed paths professionally with Self Help at some point in my career, I think it was just a matter of when.
Q: So how did you initially find out about the position then?
A: It’s interesting, so they were looking for an executive director, they were looking for a whole year, and they didn't fill the position. And I, you know, had read through the job description. I was like, “This is crazy, they can't hire somebody to do all of this, like, how can they expect this to live within one person?” They were also at that time accepting that, and realizing that they probably weren't going to find that one unicorn of a human. And so they then shifted to consider a co-directorship, and so that's how I came on board as a co-director. I took on the role of the single Executive Director three years later.
Betty giving a tour of SHG for Stanford group.
Q: During your time working here as Executive Director, do you have any favorite memories or notable moments working here that really stood out to you?
A: Oh, man, there's so many, so many. I think the universe has a way of, whenever I feel exhausted or you know, I'm tired or dealing with a really difficult moment, or a challenge, the universe always brings me something that reminds me of why I do the work. Whether it's like a particularly moving S.O.Y. Artista artwork that a youth created over the summer, or just experiencing a moment between people or a person at Self Help. There's been so many. I mean, I think something that I still appreciate to this day, even though I've been here seven years is that I get to meet people who have shaped my worldview and meet them. Like not a peer, but just as somebody who's part of their community. In those early years, had so many starstruck moments with artists who would come to the space. There was one time Patssi Valdez came to Self Help to pick up artwork or something, and I happened to be the only person in the building. And she had no idea who I was, right? She had not met me, she didn't know. And I was just like, “Patssi Valdez is in the frickin building right now, and I'm talking to her.” And like, I've read so much about her and her work, I've been to museum shows about her work and, you know, to eventually have her cell phone and to be able to call her. And many artists, right, there's so many artists where that's the case, and I trip out sometimes, that I get to do this work. It's really such an honor.
Q: Working in the arts in general, I'm wondering, in your opinion, what role does arts have in social justice? And what do you think that the arts can specifically accomplish?
“I think the, even sort of more important pieces in art and culture, it’s the role of the artists to sometimes help us envision what’s possible instead of sort of where we are, right, and what we have, and what we’re trying to move away from.”
A: I mean, art and culture are reflections of people and communities and moments in time, places. And so when you're looking at social change, that happens with people power, that happens with community, and I think there are moments where art becomes a tool to convey a particular message to move people. It's a tool to reflect a major issue and to help people digest and process things that are bigger than them, that are challenging or scary. I think the, even sort of more important pieces in art and culture, it's the role of the artists to sometimes help us envision what's possible instead of sort of where we are, right, and what we have, and what we're trying to move away from. Where are we moving towards? We know what we don't want, but what do we want? I think, to quote Sister Karen, “Art is life, it is everything around us,” and just completely baked into who we are as people, as a community, as individuals. So for me, there is no social change without artists. There is no social change without a kind of cultural narrative that pushes, that drives cultural shifts.
Q: When you're not busy working at SHG and with all your other stuff going on, what kinds of things do you like to do in your free time?
A: I have a love of music and live music, so I try to go see live shows as much as possible. Yeah, that's something that I used to do more of, now I'm really actively trying to bring it back into my life. There's something amazing about being on the floor, in the pit at a live show. There's a level of energy that I get out of that, and like a catharsis that I experience that I don't get anywhere else. I just love it. Love it. I'm also trying to actively experience more nature and more green. So that's another thing I'm trying to do more of and bring into my life. But other than that, I love hanging out with my dogs, I love hanging out with my family, and yeah. I think I used to do a whole lot more when I was younger. I think I’m at the point where I'm like, keeping it simple.
Q: Just curious, what kind of music are you into?
A: Oh, man, I love a lot of stuff. I love punk. I love like, darkwave, industrial. I love Norteño music, like what my dad played, Mexican Banda music, all kinds of stuff. Electronic stuff. Metal.
Q: So last question, what do you hope to accomplish in your career, or see in your life working in the arts and advocacy?
A: I think I would like to contribute—whether it's on a sort of micro, hyperlocal scale or on a more macro, broader regional, national scale—I want to be part of ensuring that marginalized communities get the resources that they need and the support that they need to thrive. Even beyond the arts, right, just in general. I've chosen the art path as a way to do that, and art as a platform for that. I really, I think I will always be in a position where that's something that I'm helping to inform or work towards, in some way, shape, or form. It's an equity-focused lens that I work through.
Dani Nalangan is the summer/fall Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Arts Journalism and PR Intern at Self Help Graphics & Art. She is a musician and illustrator studying Musicology and Communications at UCLA.