Latina leader wants Long Beach to be city of art advocates

Griselda Suarez is the executive director of the Arts Council for Long Beach. Photo: Courtesy of Griselda Suarez.

LONG BEACH – Griselda Suárez, a lecturer of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Cal State Long Beach and executive director of the Arts Council for Long Beach, wants Long Beach to become a bustling city of art advocates.

Suarez, who identifies as a queer Latina, was appointed executive director earlier this year and began her post March 1. 

“Not only do I look forward to championing the arts, but I also welcome artists and residents to engage the arts in all parts of their lives so that we can become a city of art advocates,” Suárez said in a statement.

Arts Council President Marco Schindelmann said Suárez’s credentials are a great asset to the nonprofit arts organization.

“Her background as artist, advocate, activist, teacher and leader positions her perfectly to help move us forward towards our future vision in which arts and culture play a vital role throughout our dynamic and innovative city,” he said in the statement.

Suárez is very active in several Long Beach community groups, including Latinos in Action, LB Fresh, Teatro Jornalero, Three Sisters Garden of Orizaba Park, Project Plateful, Ideafest LB and Leadership Long Beach.

Suárez and her wife Amy Eriksen received a prestigious award from the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club in 2015.

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

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