Tomas Benitez was born and raised in front of a television set in East L.A. Since then, he has been a cultural worker for the past thirty years, working with numerous non-profit community arts groups including his current post, Director of Development at Plaza de la Raza. He is former Executive Director of Self Help Graphics & Art, has worked with the Bilingual Foundation for the Arts, Teatro de la Esperanza, and with the late C. Bernard "Jack" Jackson at the Inner City Cultural Center. He is a founding member of the Latino Arts Network.



Tomas is the Architect of Folly to the Ministry of Culture, a collective of artists dedicated to using ridicule as a form of non-violent resistance to social injustice and the "stupiditiness of governmenticalism". Current projects include Pinatas for Peace, which sends virtual pinatas to world leaders who demonstrate a tendency for violent behavior, the Great Wall of Chinga, a project designed to deconstruct the proposed U.S./Mexican border fence before it gets constructed, and We Say No, a video project designed to capture Americans Just Saying "No" --- to the wall, the war, and anything else.



Tomas is also a member of the County of Los Angeles Arts Commission (past president), has lectured on Chicano Art and Culture across the United States, Africa and Europe, and is an active member of the Baseball Reliquary, a group of artists who love baseball despite the professional game. Tomas would rather play second base for the Samurai Bears, but he never could hit a curveball to save his life. Tomas lives and writes in Monterey Park, CA. Biography courtesy of Tomas Benitez