From the Executive Director
Rody N. Lopez
Museums are places for art experiences, but also for ideas. This archive gathers speeches, essays, and reflections developed through the work of leading Craft Contemporary and engaging artists, communities, and cultural conversations across Los Angeles and beyond.
SPEECHES & PUBLIC REMARKS
Pasadena Art Alliance (PAA) - Keynote Remarks
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Good afternoon.
It is an honor to be with you today.
Thank you for your kind invitation and for your many decades of support for Craft Contemporary and my curatorial projects over the years at many different institutions.
I want to begin with a confession.
I have spent much of my career trying to answer a question that I have never been fully satisfied answering.
What is the difference between art and craft?
For me, this question has never been theoretical.
I was born in Guatemala, a country where craft is not separated from daily life. As a first-generation immigrant of Maya descent, I grew up understanding that textiles carried histories, ceramics carried rituals, and handmade objects carried memory.
Making was never simply production.
It was inheritance. It was survival. It was identity...
California Lawyers for the Arts, Artistic License Awards - Honoree Acceptance Remarks
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Good evening.
Thank you to California Lawyers for the Arts, Alma Robinson, Gloria Ruiz Oster, Toyin Moses, and our presenter this evening, Thao Tran, for this incredible honor.
On behalf of Craft Contemporary, it is a privilege to accept this recognition. This award recognizes more than sixty years of our institution’s history of championing contemporary craft, community engagement, and artists whose voices deserve amplification. But tonight, I want to focus on people.
At Craft Contemporary, we believe museums should not simply preserve culture. They should create opportunity and build pathways for people to imagine different futures. That belief is why paid internship programs matter. Many cultural institutions speak about access. Our responsibility is to build it.
Tonight, I have the honor of sharing this moment with Albert Huezo, who is standing with me on stage. Albert joined us as an intern and today serves as Building and Maintenance Engineer at the Norton Simon Museum while continuing to support Craft Contemporary as our Facilities Assistant. Albert represents what becomes possible when institutions invest in talent, trust emerging professionals with responsibility, and create real pathways into the field. Please join me in celebrating Albert.
I also want to recognize three remarkable Designing Creative Futures interns who could not be with us tonight: Chris Marshall, who serves as a museum preparator, Wayne Schroeder, and La'Non Smith, both of whom have taught multiple craft workshops. Their creativity, labor, curiosity, and dedication have helped shape our museum and strengthen our community in meaningful ways. This recognition belongs to them as much as it belongs to Craft Contemporary.
As museums face increasing challenges, from funding pressures to questions of relevance and access, I believe our charge is clear: open the doors wider, share power more generously, and invest in the next generation of cultural workers.
To our staff, Board of Trustees, artists, supporters, community partners, and every intern who trusted us with a part of their journey, thank you. And to California Lawyers for the Arts, thank you for reminding all of us that creative labor deserves advocacy, investment, and protection.
We accept this award with gratitude and renewed commitment to the work ahead.
Thank you.
Rody N. Lopez, Executive Director at the Hammer's Gala in the Garden | Saturday, May 2, 2026.
Photo Courtesy of The Hammer Museum.
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