Nancy Villafranca-Guzmán (she/ella)

Nancy Villafranca-Guzmán, a first-generation Chicagoan, is the first in her family born in the United States.  She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants from the state of Durango, and one of six siblings whose residences span from Chicago to California and Baja California, Mexico. Nancy attended the local public schools of Cooper Elementary, Orozco Academy and Benito Juarez in Pilsen. Introduced by her middle school art teacher, Nancy began working at the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) at the age of fifteen where she began her journey in cultural work and built a strong connection to her heritage, her bicultural identity, and the experience of Mexicanos on both sides of the border. 

While continuing to work at the NMMA, including as their Director of Education for almost ten years, Nancy received her undergraduate degree in Secondary Education from DePaul University and her Master’s Degree in Instructional Leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Nancy recently completed a second Master of Art in Museum and Exhibition Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Now a proud mother of two wonderful bicultural children, Nancy integrates her personal, educational  and professional experience to advance the well-being of the communities she serves and represents. Nancy Villafranca-Guzmán has over twenty years of experience in the art, culture and education fields. She joined the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) in 2021 as their Deputy Commissioner for Programming. Prior to her arrival at DCASE, she was the Vice President for Education and Engagement at the Chicago History Museum where she oversaw the Museum’s school and public programs and initiatives and the visitor engagement teams. From 2015-16 she was also the Chicago office director of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), a national Latino research consortium headquartered at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  As Director of Education at the National Museum of Mexican Art, Nancy led a team of educators and artists, and guided the development of museum-based curriculum for cultural understanding and launched many of the Museum’s long-standing arts education programs.

Nancy is a founding storyteller of Raíces: Chicago Story Coalition. Working in the museum field for this long, she knows too well the role that mainstream museums and archives can play in sustaining the status quo and erasing entire communities from the historical narrative. Propelled by the limited archival materials accessible for her own research, the response of young people protesting for their history to be included and celebrated, and seeing aspects of the community where she grew up being literally erased from the walls, Nancy is committed to documenting the stories of Latine/x communities and cultivating a sense of sharing the stories and inspiring young people to write their own.