Internal Latino Cultural Center of Chicago Executive Director and Founder Pepe Vargas to Retire

The International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago (ILCC), producers of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, the Chicago Latino Music Series and other events, announced today that its Executive Director and Founder Pepe Vargas will retire due to health issues. Vargas will officially step down on June 30. The ILCC’s Board of Directors also announced the immediate appointment of Deputy Executive Director Mateo Mulcahy as Interim Executive Director. Mulcahy will transition to Executive Director on July 1st, 2026.

“I never saw myself retiring from the organization. I love what I do and believe that the work we do at the ILCC is important, relevant, and transcendental not only for the Latino community but for the entire City of Chicago,” said Vargas. “But recent events have served as a wake-up call for me. I need to prioritize my health above all things; I want to see my grandchildren grow into vibrant, productive and creative adults, much like my children have.

“I step down with the full confidence that I have assembled a team that is as committed and passionate about the ILCC’s mission as I still am. As my right-hand man, Mateo has single-handedly elevated our music, dance and theater programming while establishing strong relationships with local arts and community organizations. He has also played a pivotal role in the post-pandemic success of the Chicago Latino Film Festival. I am optimistic and excited about this organization’s future and am eternally grateful for the support we have received from artists, from the many corporate and funding institutions and, most importantly, from our community,” added Vargas.

As Founder and Executive Director of what is today known as the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, Pepe Vargas was directly responsible for the organization’s growth from 14 films projected against a wall in St. Augustine College to an audience of 500 for that first film festival more than 40 years ago to today’s year-round multidisciplinary arts programming from Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the United States enjoyed by close to 50,000 people. 

As a result, the Chicago Latino Film Festival is now the longest continuously running Latino film festival in the country. During his tenure, Vargas also opened the door to other Latino cultural expressions that for a long time were underrepresented in the city’s cultural landscape: classical and experimental music written and performed by Latin American and Spanish musicians and composers through the Chicago Latino Music Festival (later expanded into a year-round music series); contemporary art exhibits; stand-up comedy; folk dance groups from Colombia; and plays from Chile, Honduras, Argentina and New York. Vargas was also one of the founding members of the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) alongside arts executive Myrna Salazar, National Museum of Mexican Arts founder Carlos Tortolero and former Puerto Rican Arts Alliance executive director Carlos Hernández.

“In my fifteen years with the International Latino Cultural Center, first as a volunteer and now as board chair, I have witnessed firsthand what Pepe Vargas has built through film, music, and culinary programming, and it is nothing short of remarkable. He created spaces where Latin American filmmakers could proudly share their work, where musicians could fill a room with the sounds of our homelands, and where the flavors and traditions of an entire continent could be savored and celebrated. In doing so, he shattered narrow stereotypes of Latino culture and replaced them with something far more powerful: truth, artistry, and pride,” said International Latino Cultural Center Board Chair Nancy Alonso.

“Pepe Vargas is more than a cultural leader. He is an institution within Chicago’s arts community. For decades, he has championed the idea that Latino culture deserves not only recognition, but a permanent and thriving place within the city’s cultural identity. His leadership has elevated countless voices, strengthened organizations, and enriched the cultural life of Chicago. His legacy will endure in the institutions he built, the people he mentored, and the communities he brought together through the power of arts and culture,” said ILCC Board Treasurer Jonathan López.

“Pepe Vargas is one of the great cultural leaders of Chicago. A dignified gentleman of the old school, he is passionate for his mission, welcoming to all partners, diligent in securing quality programming, and a model for all of us who endeavor to follow suit. It has been my pleasure and an honor to work with him, in various capacities, for the past twelve years,” added Board Secretary Michael Angell.

Vargas’ announcement comes right after this year’s Chicago Latino Film Festival had its best post-pandemic run, beating last year’s numbers with an increase of 51% in sales (including merchandise) and a 30% increase in attendance. Additionally, the ILCC recently announced the lineup for the 2026 Levitt VIBE Chicago Music Series, a sweeping 10-week celebration of Latino music and culture at Riis Park, 6100 West Fullerton Ave., in Chicago’s Belmont-Cragin neighborhood, produced in partnership with the Levitt Family Foundation. The ILCC will soon be announcing the programming for their Films in the Park summer program produced in collaboration with the Chicago Parks District and for this fall’s Fourth Annual Chicago Latino Dance Festival. 

The ILCC will honor Pepe Vargas’ legacy at a special event on June 30; details will be announced closer to the date.

FROM HARDSHIP TO CULTURAL ICON

Born in the Colombian countryside, one of five siblings, Pepe Vargas experienced a life full of work and hardship. As a traveling salesman in his teens, he witnessed first hand his country’s cultural richness and social disparities. He also found inspiration, kindness and even mentorship from good souls, particularly a large traveling family who treated him as a son. Vargas also discovered the power of education as a liberating force.

He traveled to Argentina to study law at the National University of Buenos Aires where tuition was free but where Vargas had to find a way to make a living to pay for the essentials. After receiving his law degree in1976 and briefly practicing labor law, he had no choice but to leave the country as the ruling military junta began its long protracted Dirty War against those who opposed the regime. Luck helped him escape aboard a cargo ship towards the Mexican port of Tampico though, as a Colombian, he only made it to Barranquilla. He stayed in Colombia for two years before he, like many other immigrants before and after him, crossed Central America into Mexico, where he stayed for a year, and then to Los Angeles in 1979. Within a year, Vargas was again packing up his bags. Destination: Chicago.

He earned a degree in Broadcast Journalism and Television/Film Production from Columbia College Chicago in 1985 while working as a busboy and a taxi driver. He also contributed columns to the then-Chicago Sun-Times Spanish-language insert “Los Vecinos.” His fate was sealed that same year when he was invited by a friend to be part of the Hispanic Film Festival, an initiative of St. Augustine College designed to recruit more Latino students. Fourteen films were projected for an audience of 500 against a wall of what was once the legendary Essanay Studios where Charlie Chaplin became the cinematic icon we know today. That first festival is not only the stuff of legends but also a cultural landmark in Chicago’s arts scene. 

Recognizing the festival’s potential as a tool to break down the many stereotypes and misconceptions that exist about the Latino community and to celebrate the rich diversity of the more than 20 countries that are part of the Pan-Latino diaspora, Vargas took over the direction of the Festival and changed its name to the Chicago Latino Film Festival. In 1987, he founded Chicago Latino Cinema as an umbrella organization. Today, the Chicago Latino Film Festival is the largest and longest continuously running Latino film festival in the country having presented over 5,000 films that might not otherwise have been seen in Chicago and hosting thousands of filmmakers.

By the mid-nineties, convinced that if there was a large audience for Latino films there surely must be one for other Latino cultural expressions, Vargas began to expand the organization’s programming to include other disciplines, especially music and theater, testing the boundaries of what a multicultural organization would look like. As the 90s came to a close, Vargas formally announced that Chicago Latino Cinema was changing its name to the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago as well as plans to build a multi-arts complex. Those plans are still ongoing.

Since then, the organization has presented year-round multidisciplinary events in community centers, academic auditoriums, museums, film venues, galleries, lounges, restaurants, and parks. It also produces such events as the Chicago Latino Music Series (which started as a festival devoted exclusively to Pan-Latino classical, experimental and instrumental music and evolved into the multi-genre series of today), the Chicago Latino Dance Festival, the summer series Films in the Park and the Reel Film Club.

Vargas has received multiple recognitions during his illustrious career including: the Chicago Tribune’s Chicagoan of the Year (2003) and Remarkable Person designation (2011); an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Lake Forest College (2004); the Golden Precolumbian Circle Award from the Bogotá Film Festival for his contributions to Latin American Cinema (2005); a fellowship from the Chicago Community Trust, which allowed him to travel through Latin America, Spain, France, and the U.S. to visit other cultural institutions (2006-07); and named by Spanish magazine Fusionarte as one of the 100 most prominent Colombian citizens in the world alongside Shakira, Fernanda Botero and Gabriel García Márquez (2012). Vargas published his memoirs, Soy la vida que he vivido (I Am the Life I Have Lived) in 2021.

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