Chon A. Noriega is an American

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

media scholar Media studies is a discipline (academia), discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media (communication), media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the ...

, and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

. Noriega is professor of cinema and media studies at

UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

. He was also the director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) from 2002 to 2021. Noriega is an adjunct curator at

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

(LACMA), where he has worked as an curator since the 1990s. He has curated major exhibitions at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and LACMA.

Early life

Noriega was born in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in 1961. His father was a

beat reporter Beat reporting, also known as specialized reporting, is a genre of journalism focused on a particular issue, sector, organization, or institution over time. Description Beat reporters build up a base of knowledge on and gain familiarity with t ...

for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

from La Luz, New Mexico. His mother was from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. They moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1973, where his father ran a PR agency and ran for mayor in the early 1990s. He graduated with a bachelor's in English from the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

. He received his master's and PhD from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Career

Noriega was an assistant professor of

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

. He moved to Los Angeles in summer 1992 to teach at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA). At UCLA, he served as the director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) from 2002 to 2021. He was succeeded as director of CSRC by Veronica Terriquez in June 2021. Noriega co-founded the National Association of Latino Independent Producers in 1999. In 2011, Noriega curated ''L.A. Xicano'', an exhibit about the contributions of Mexican American artists in Los Angeles since 1945, for ''Pacific Standard Time'', an eight-month exhibition that profiled the Los Angeles art scene from 1945 to 1980. In 2017, Noriega co-curated a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

exhibit of photographer Laura Aguilar for the

Getty Foundation The Getty Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, at the Getty Center, awards grants for "the understanding and preservation of the visual arts".Getty FoundationAbout the Foundation. Retrieved September 18, 2008. In the past, it funded the ...

with Vincent Price Art Museum director Karen Rapp and

East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...

art professor Sybil Venegas. Noriega received the 2021

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in the category of Fine Arts Research for two books about

Raphael Montañez Ortiz Raphael Montañez Ortiz (born in Brooklyn, New York January 30, 1934) is an American artist, educator, and founder of El Museo del Barrio, in East Harlem, New York City. Education Montañez Ortiz graduated from Art and Design High School of N ...

Select bibliography

* ''Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema'' (2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noriega, Chon UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television faculty Academics from Chicago American art curators Stanford University alumni University of New Mexico faculty Writers from Miami Mexican diaspora in the United States American academics of Mexican descent American art historians Mass media scholars 1961 births Living people Historians from Illinois Historians from California Historians from Florida