The Founding Family

Madrinas y Padrinos

In Latino culture, madrinas and padrinos are family — the people who show up, who invest not just resources but belief. They are the founding family of this movement, and their names will stand with ALMAAHH from the beginning.

What It Means

More than donors. Family.

In Latino culture, a madrina or padrino is not a title you purchase. It is a role you accept — godparent, sponsor, protector of the family’s promises. You show up. You stay through what is hard. You invest not just resources but belief.

ALMAAHH’s Madrinas y Padrinos are the founding family of this movement — the first to say, “I believe in this vision, and I want to help build it.” Their commitment is what makes everything else possible: the exhibitions, the workshops, the community gatherings, and the future complex itself.

When the doors open, their names will stand with ALMAAHH from the beginning — recognized not as donors to a campaign, but as the family that made the home.

01

Public Recognition

Honored as a founding supporter — your name stands with ALMAAHH on this page and across the opening of the museum campus.

02

Exclusive Gatherings

Private previews, patron dinners, and behind-the-scenes moments with leadership, artists, and fellow members of the founding family.

03

Historic Legacy

A place in the story of how Houston’s first world-class Latino arts and archive complex came to be — permanent, documented, remembered.

Our Founding Family

The first to believe.

These visionary supporters stepped forward before the doors opened — before the walls were raised — to say yes to Houston’s first world-class Latino arts and archive complex.

24 Founding Madrinas y Padrinos
  • Annise Parker

  • Arturo Chavez

  • Carlos Arevalo and Nancy

  • Carlos Duarte

  • Celestino and Kim Gonzalez

  • Elliot Gershenson

  • Esteban Montero

  • Geraldina Wise

  • Gracie Saenz

  • Jacob Monty

  • Juan Padilla

  • Laura Murillo

  • Lorie Westrick

  • Silvana Micolich

  • Mario K. Castillo

  • Massey Villarreal

  • Felix Fraga and Nelly Fraga

  • Peter Rodriguez

  • Roland Garcia and Karen Hegland Garcia

  • Wendy and Shawn Cloonan

  • Stan Marek

  • Susana Howard Rosas

  • George Martinez

  • Rick Figueroa

Your name could stand with theirs. Join the founding family — and help build the home Houston’s American Latino community deserves.

What Your Gift Builds

Belief, translated into brick and canvas.

Every Madrina and Padrino gift moves ALMAAHH closer to the future complex — but the work is already underway. Your support sustains the programs, the people, and the place that make a museum possible before it has walls.

The Programs

Exhibitions, workshops, and community gatherings.

From artist showcases to bilingual education workshops, your gift funds the public-facing programming that builds ALMAAHH’s audience, artist network, and cultural footprint across Houston year after year.

Active today — across the city

The People

Artists, curators, and the team behind the mission.

Operational support keeps the engine running — leadership, curators, program staff, and paid opportunities for Latino artists whose work will populate the archive and galleries for generations.

Staffed and growing — a working institution

The Place

The future arts and archive complex itself.

Every founding gift becomes part of the capital foundation for the complex — a permanent home in Houston’s East End for Latino cultural and visual arts, archives, and community convening.

In development — Houston East End

Two ALMAAHH supporters holding colorful artwork at an ALMAAHH gala event

Stay Connected

The family grows together.

Receive invitations to patron gatherings, exhibition previews, and the moments that mark ALMAAHH’s rise — direct from the team, written for the founding family.

Join the Mailing List