The arts have always been the bridge to cultural understanding, and they transcend the politics of the day. The arts and appreciating the arts are uniquely human abilities. The beauty of the arts touches the mind, the heart and the soul of every human being, no matter what their culture, their language, or their political affiliation.
The arts are also the driver of cultural tourism. Cultural tourism is what supports every local economy, in every community around the planet.
Cultural tourism is also driven by human perception. If you're constantly told that certain regions are dangerous you will develop a fear that will prevent you from traveling to that region. And enough of that perception takes away cultural tourism.
We know that many U.S. cities have violent crime rates much higher than our cities on the border. Such as Philadelphia. Philadelphia has one of the highest murder rates in the nation. But, I don't know anyone who's afraid to go to Philadelphia. Yet, almost everyone is afraid to go to the southern border. This is an unfair narrative that we are seeking to change through the arts.
The next step is a regional art event. The plan was suggested by Texas representative Janie Lopez, and will involve the entire Rio Grande Valley region and cities on both sides of the Rio Grande River. The committee involved in that event has suggested a passport program with listings of art and cultural sites to see all along the RGV cultural corridor. It would involve the organization and places to visit joining the initiative to do their part to encourage cultural tourism and giving the initiative a bigger, collaborative voice about what life on the southern border is really like and why it is safe to visit here.
I remember when I first moved here what it was like to live between one river and two countries. I think a lot of people are are getting to the point where they're too young to really know what that was like. And we are losing that. I know there's already been a generation of kids that have been born, grew up and moved away that lived in fear of going to Mexico, even in our sister cities. But when I first got here, it was completely different. It was really like one region.
And one good example of that. My father-in-law was a federal judge, actually he was the first Latino federal judge ever appointed, by Kennedy. And then as his career went on, he was being elevated to the Fifth Circuit. And all of the judges for the Fifth Circuit came to Brownsville for his ceremony. And where did they go to celebrate afterwards? They went to the drive-in in Matamoros. Now, in today's climate, that would never happen because they would be living in fear.
But the fear, for the most part, is so exaggerated. In fact this morning, (Congressman) Henry Cuellar was on the news several times talking about how the border cities are some of the safest cities in the nation. I don't know whether the new FBI statistics on violent crime just came out or why he was speaking to that. But but it is true. And we live here and we know what our life is like. We need to be the ones that stand up and talk about it and tell the truth of what our life is like.
I'm so afraid we're going to end up being the no man's land, like the space between East and West Berlin. Don't go there. Don't fund them. Don't send them anything, that's just a war zone. Because we know that not to be true. And we know what the arts mean in our region that cultural tourists would come to see. I feel like the best way we can promote who we are is through the arts.
Editor's Note: The above commentary was provided by Diane Milliken Garza, a commissioner for the Texas Commission on the Arts, at the recent 6th Annual Conference on Border Studies, co-hosted by UT-Rio Grande Valley and the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas.
Editor's Note: Diane Milliken Garza's opening remarks at the conference focused on the Cultural Corridor project she is spearheading. Here is a video recording of those opening remarks:
https://youtu.be/mK31jg31Iz8
Ron Whitlock writes:
EDINBURG, Texas - The 6th Annual International Conference on Border Studies was co-hosted by UT-Rio Grande Valley and the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas. The theme of the conference was “Transborderism: Reimagining Social Space.”
Speakers from 15 countries and more than 30 national and international academic institutions participated.
According to the organizers, the conference sought to “facilitate discussion and research that will positively impact the Rio Grande Valley community as well as migrants, asylum seekers and border communities around the world.”
A press advisory promoting the conference said: “The proximity of UTRGV to the U.S.-Mexico border is a special opportunity for scholars and researchers from around the globe to collaborate in a unique geographic region and present multidisciplinary research on the important and timely issues related to borders.”
One of the panelists at the conference was Diane Milliken Garza, a commissioner for the Texas Commission on the Arts. In her opening remarks, Milliken Garza spoke about the Cultural Corridor initiative she is working on.
"Through the cultural corridor initiative organizers are seeking to create a new narrative about the border region and to re-establish cultural tourism on both sides of the border. The goal is to stop the fear factor that has come to define our region because of negative political rhetoric and a very sensational national press," Milliken Garza said.
Below is an audio recording of everything Diane Milliken Garza said at the conference. The moderator is Jeff Ward, dean of UTRGV's College of Fine Arts.
