North Austin News

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB MACC) has announced the winners of its 2024 Awards of Excellence. Established by the ESB MACC Advisory Board in 2009, these awards honor individuals in Austin who have demonstrated significant leadership and contributions to Latino/a/e cultural arts.

The Awards of Excellence ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 29 at the Long Center for awardees and their families. The general public can watch a video recording of the ceremony on ESB MACC's social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Nominations were submitted via an open nomination form, resulting in over 40 individual nominations. The selection committee scored nominees based on their service in each award category to the ESB-MACC and the Mexican American/Latino/a/x/e community.

Biographies of each winner and a complete list of past winners from 2009–2023 are available at AustinTexas.gov/MACCAWARDS.

### Awardees:

**Arts Education Award Winner: Adolph Ortiz**

Adolph Ortiz graduated from Travis High School in Austin and was part of Zeke Castro's Mariachi Ensemble. He played a pivotal role in establishing Austin's Mariachi Relampago in 1991, which won Univision's "Mejor Mariachi" award. They also won Austin's first mariachi competition, "Fiesta del Mariachi," held at the Long Center.

**Emerging Artist Award Winner: Ana Barajas**

Ana Barajas is a Colombian singer/songwriter who fuses elements of Latin folk, tribal sounds, and electronic music. She moved to Austin in 2011 and released her debut album “La Botánica de los Sueños” in 2018. Her career includes collaborations with artists worldwide across various genres.

**Arts Award Winner: Mauricio Callejas**

Mauricio Callejas is a Salvadoran singer-songwriter who has lived in Austin for twenty years. He has released six solo albums and founded Centroamericanto Fest, a Central American music festival that has brought together artists from Central America and the US for fifteen years.

**Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Dolores Carrillo Garcia**

Dolores Carrillo Garcia has been a supporter of arts programs including La Peña, UT Center for Mexican American Studies, Coronado Studios, and Blanton Museum at UT-Austin. She retired from UT Austin after thirty years working with Latino-focused programs and has curated numerous exhibitions promoting Latino visual arts.

**Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Gilberto Cardenas**

Gilberto Cárdenas is recognized as a scholar on Mexican immigration and race relations. He directed the Center for Mexican American Studies at UT Austin from 1992–1996 and founded Galería Sin Fronteras (1986). In 2023, Blanton Museum acquired over 5,000 works from his collection with Dolores Garcia—the largest single donation of Latino art to a museum.

**Service Award Winner: Velia Sanchez Ruiz**

Velia Sanchez-Ruiz worked for over thirty years with AISD integrating dance into her Physical Education classes while supporting events like Cinco de Mayo celebrations. She assisted Emma S. Barrientos to establish Roy Lozano Ballet Folklorico and advocated for cultural arts through her work with ESB-MACC Advisory Board post-retirement.

**Posthumous Award Winner: Marcelo Tafoya Sr.**

Marcelo H. Tafoya was foundational to Tejano broadcasting and Chicano civil rights advocacy during his fifty-five years residing in Austin. His broadcasting career included tenures at KGTN, KUT, KAZZ stations; he launched Central Texas’s first Hispanic television show "Austin Presenta" on KTBC channel 7; he founded Tejano Artist Music Museum.

**Posthumous Award Winner: Maria Emilia Martin**

Maria Emilia Martin was a Latina journalist focusing on Latin American affairs who created NPR’s English-language radio program Latino USA while reporting extensively on indigenous communities' politics in Central America. Her memoir highlights overcoming racism while training other Latina journalists.

 

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