We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Israel Garcia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Israel, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

As part of the La Mision Conarte, I have seen the need for reconnection with the roots that the children of first-generation immigrants have.

Being an immigrant is not easy. There are many sacrifices that a person who decides to leave their Country, family, friends, and culture has to make. It is one of the hardest decisions a man or a woman has to put their mind on. To start a new life alone in a foreign country with a different language and around people who don’t look like you is more than intimidating. Now, raising kids in a new environment is even harder, and people tend to make several mistakes, like keeping their kids away from their original language and culture so that they can adapt better to this new society.

The work of La Mision Conarte, is to bring these new genrations and the old ones to reconnect with what they have lost, their identity. Working with different people from different countries allows us to see and learn more about ourselves and how beautiful and diverse we humans are. This is what makes our work at LMCA meaningful.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At LMCA we do not have clients. We are a non-profit organization that serves people and promotes unity and networking through art. We bring awareness about the different rich cultures of the Latino community to everyone willing to learn about us.

We work with different sponsors that support our cause. We are still looking for more sponsors that want to support what we do. We are open to receiving donations and to allying with other organizations to reach out to more people so they can have access to what we offer.

As an organization, we offer art workshops, English and Spanish classes, and promote the work of our artists to expose them to an audience that by themselves could be hard or impossible to have access to.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I have unlearned is that alone a person can go just so far, but with people around who share your goals, you can always go a lot further and be successful at any task that falls on your lap. There are no limits when you have the right team backing you up and working together.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I think that the best thing you can do for your team as a leader is to make sure that everyone knows their role in the game, and then, let them be. They do not need to be micromanaged. They are adults and they know that the onus is on them to make things happen. A leader is not above anyone, a leader is just another piece of gear that makes the machine work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lamisionconarte.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lamisionconarte/

Image Credits

Bad Iguana Productions