Speaker

Diana Delgado

They/Them/Theirs
Community Outreach Coordinator
City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture
Albuquerque, NM
United States

Born and raised under the sun painted sky of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Diana Delgado has spent the last five years serving as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts and Culture. Invited by Mayor Tim Keller to hold the first of its kind position, Diana works to lift up and imagine new ways for her department to serve her city’s youth and families. With 19 libraries, 3 museums, 3 large scale performing arts venues, the City’s community events division, a public access television channel and community film studio, a zoo, an aquarium, a botanic garden, and the City’s public art program, she has ample opportunities to be creative and think outside the box. Collaboration is key in Diana’s process and in addition to working on aligning her department’s divisions, she has also served on the ONE Albuquerque Youth Connect Committee since its inception in 2018, bringing together many Departments in our City to support each other’s work, increase our impact, and create new opportunities for Albuquerque’s youth.
Diana is a working artist in Albuquerque and for the past 10 years has shared her skills as an arts educator, teaching devised theatre and the circus arts at local non-profits and at the University of New Mexico. Her community and the world around her are instrumental in how she responds as an artist, an advocate, and a civil servant. Diana is humbled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with artists from all over the world including performing in Colombia, Poland, and Ukraine. Diana believes that our unique stories are one of the most powerful tools we hold. Through sharing our stories and listening to others, we are able to create space for reflection, healing, connection, and diplomacy. Diana brings her unique process of gathering and lifting up stories as well as her artistic background to everything she approaches.
The heart of Diana’s work has always been centering, amplifying, and elevating youth voices. She is most proud of her work in the creation of the Mayor’s Creative Youth Corps and the Stepping Stones Summit. The Mayor’s Creative Youth Corps (MCYC) is a two-month professional-level, paid internship for rising High School juniors and seniors who are interested in perusing a career in arts and culture. The Stepping Stone Summit is an annual summit that brings together leaders in Albuquerque’s creative sector, from small businesses to large-scale intuitions, to discuss how to continue to broaden our scope of work, foster new collaborations, deepen relationships, listen to youth, and build new, equitable career exploration opportunities for our young people. Both of these programs hold equity and accessibility at their core and serve as a means to ensure that the future of the arts and creative sector will look even more diverse than it does today.
Diana sees the power of art as a cultural tool and means of healing. She truly believes that without access to art in her youth she would not be where she is today. She is committed to ensuring youth have meaningful experiences in and access to art because she knows that it can literally change a life. She works to create programs that encourage youth to be bold and brave, embrace failure, and learn to create their own boundaries. Diana strives to make room at the table and invite new perspectives in every aspect of her work.

Contact:
dianadelgado@cabq.gov
+1 505-362-9337


Social Media:
https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture