Inlakech Cultural Arts Center
For over 50 years, Inlakech Cultural Arts Center has provided youth and adults with a free, after school, cultural education program. Centered in the heart of Oxnard, California, many of Inlakech’s students come from low-income agricultural families who are greatly underserved. Children from the age of two to the elderly receive instruction in Mariachi music, folklórico dance, “el canto Mexicano” (chorale/voice, based on regional Mexican music), and visual arts used in the celebration of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
About Javier Gomez
Javier Gomez is the founder and artistic director of the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center, having served as its driving force for the past 50+ years. He is also an author, poet, instructor, artistic director of Chicano theater, Mariachi music and traditional folklorico dance, a cultural historian and cultural arts leader and promoter, philanthropist, a retired educator for Oxnard College and the Oxnard Elementary School District (1973-2006), and a stage/film actor, director, playwright, and producer.
Mr. Gomez was a recipient of California Arts Council’s Artist-in-Residency Grant program (1989-2001), and is a former Arts Commissioner for the City of Oxnard, a role in which he served for over 20 years. In 2007, he was inducted into the Ventura County Educator’s Hall of Fame.
Mr. Gomez has played a key role in promoting and sponsoring major cultural arts events to enrich the lives and cultural well-being of people in communities throughout Ventura County. He continues to be a strong advocate for empowering youth to to take leadership roles in creating a new destiny for their communities.
