ILCC Executive Director Mateo Mulcahy Shares His Vision for the Organization

The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago’s (ILCC) new Executive Director Mateo Mulcahy laid out in a letter to friends and supporters of the organization his vision for its future. Acknowledging the challenges and turbulent times the ILCC, as well as so many arts and Latino organizations, face today, Mulcahy stands firm in his and the organization’s vision that arts and culture are our most powerful tools to show the world who Latinos are as a community and that they can be a force that fortifies understanding.

Structuring the ILCC’s program around seven equal pillars —film, music, dance, theater, visual arts, literary arts, and the culinary arts— is one of Mulcahy’s goals for the organization. He also wants to create “more substantive partnerships with governmental agencies, community organizations, and universities” and create new strategies to attract new and younger audiences to the organization’s many events.

After serving for four and a half years as the ILCC’s Deputy Executive Director, Mulcahy assumed the role of Executive Director on July 1 after Founder and Executive Director Emeritus Pepe Vargas announced his retirement due to health issues last month. The organization paid tribute to Vargas’ legacy and his 78th birthday with a special event last June 30 at Facets Film Forum, 1517 West Fullerton Ave. A full account of that evening’s celebration has been posted on the ILCC’s website.

A bilingual and bicultural native of Chicago of Mexican and Irish descent, Mulcahy’s advocacy for the arts began more than four decades ago in St. Louis, where he graduated from Washington University with a B.A. in Spanish and International Development. Mulcahy was instrumental in creating that city’s Latino cultural scene. As a musician and vocalist of El Caribe Tropical and pioneering Spanish language radio host for more than 20 years, he steadily built a lasting legacy that included three Latino and international live music venues, Club Viva!, La Onda, and Candela, two of which survive today 20 years after his departure. Mulcahy also played a key role in establishing the city’s first fully professional Spanish-language radio station in 2001: Radio Cucui, WEW 770 AM, the oldest AM radio station west of the Mississippi. He introduced the St. Louis public to Latino music and dance from folkloric festivals to debuting acts such as Oscar D’Leon and Los Tigres del Norte. 

Upon his return to Chicago in 2006 , Mulcahy was the Director of Community Projects and Events at the Old Town School of Folk Music, where he produced thousands of multicultural events over 16 years. In this role, as the sole Latino director in his tenure there, he transformed that institution into the leading presenter of international music and dance in the Midwest. Mulcahy spearheaded numerous grant-funded programs for events, series, festivals, residencies, and international exchange.

Since joining the ILCC in 2022, Mulcahy has doubled the programming, with special attention to music and dance, introducing the Chicago Latino Dance Festival in 2023, and the Levitt VIBE Chicago Music Series in 2024 among other initiatives.   

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