December 1, 2022 – The Board of Directors of El Museo is pleased to announce the hiring of its new executive director, Julio Enrique Flores. For almost 30 years, Mr. Flores has balanced a career as a graphic artist, teaching artist, and arts programming administrator. This combined experience brings recognition for the cultural preservation of art and cultural idiom.

Mr. Flores has a long history of working in the field of fine arts particularly in digitization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and as Marketing Design Manager, at Columbia College Chicago. He recently studied in the University at Buffalo’s Studio Art and Design Department.

Dr. Craig Centrie, the executive director emeritus and co-founder of El Museo states, “We feel very lucky to have Julio as our new executive director. He comes to us with an impressive set of academic and employment experience. Julio also has considerable exhibition experience with his work which is a very valuable asset working in a gallery. He also has a most pleasant personality which I believe will be well received by our funders and patrons.”

As an executive director, Mr. Flores will lead exhibitions and public programming, staffing, communications, and the strategic leadership of the organization.

In 2016 Mr. Flores made a major life-changing decision to come to Buffalo to rejoin his family, study fine arts at University at Buffalo, and pursue a life-long interest in teaching. Julio currently has experience working with students in Buffalo Public Schools. Although Julio has an exhaustive list of academic, exhibitions, and employment experience, he is most proud of his work with children and teaching them the art of Puerto Rican kite making, an art form handed down through his family.