Arden and Anya also hosted many artesanos in New York where they did presentations in schools and enjoyed exposure to local museums, Broadway shows and fascinating venues such as Chinatown.

In 2006 Oaxaca’s governor responded in an extreme manner to the customary annual teachers’ strike. The shocking violence that ensued resulted in a collapse of tourism, crippling the previously robust prospects of the folk artist community. When desperate artists contacted Arden for help, she sought out other Oaxaca afficionados in the US, including children’s book author and educator Cindy Weill who had recently published a book illustrated with pieces by Oaxacan folk artists. In a series of phone meetings with gallery owners and others involved with Oaxacan folk art in major US cities, the idea emerged to develop an organization to support the future of the “next generation” of folk artists to ensure that generations-old traditions would be preserved. This was thought to be the best way to counter the trend for young people to drift away from their roots, influenced by globalization and technology, now further jeopardized by uncertain income. The idea was to identify new talent through contests and provide the winning artists with educational opportunities to reinforce their artistic identities, improve their marketing efforts and expand their sales.

Arden and Cindy got to work to form Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art (FOFA), Arden as President and Cindy as Vice President (now on FOFA’s Advisory Board). Although the original concept was to have networks in multiple cities in the US, it was the New York group that persisted and thrived. Arden recruited everyone she knew to participate in this venture and, over time, FOFA developed an activist board of directors and a solid small-donor base. In 2008 FOFA launched its first (of six to date) young artist competitions.

Thanks to the pro bono incorporation work by attorney William Scanlan, Jr.’s (a FOFA board member) law firm in San Antonio, FOFA was born as a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization in 2007. Generous donations to help FOFA get off the ground were made by Ernie and Barbara Kafka, Susan and Dick Pasternak and, thanks to Arden’s contacts with one Mexican Consul General (from 2011-2013), Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, himself a native Oaxacan, a large one-time grant by the Western Union Foundation.

Arden has been the public face of FOFA, while simultaneously assuming many important roles behind the scenes. For her many contributions Los Amigos del Arte Popular awarded Arden the Van Deren Coke Award in 2017 for her outstanding contributions to the preservation, education and promotion of Mexican folk art. https://conta.cc/3TFyl8b Included among her many roles, she has been production manager of the six competition exhibition catalogues, coordinating the interviewers who write text and translators, while overseeing the work of graphic designers and photographers, and determining the layout and special content of each volume.

She has also been chief fundraising grant writer -- especially to Los Amigos del Arte Popular (LADAP) that has repeatedly and generously awarded support for FOFA’s projects; site author of FOFA’s extensive website; creator along with board member and graphic designer Mariana Pedrero of the travel guide pamphlet “Planning Your Folk Art Itinerary: Oaxaca City and its Central Valleys.”

Arden has also served as networker-in-chief, relating to the Consuls General of Mexico in New York and Directors of the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, museum officials, private collectors, folk art vendors and academics; frequent coordinator for and sometimes originator of the more than two dozen workshops FOFA has hosted in Oaxaca, recruiting many of the teachers and overseeing the unfolding of these ventures; and periodically, e-newsletter editor.

She will continue in some of these capacities, picking and choosing where she will put her energies, with others from FOFA’s expanding circle stepping in to take responsibility for others. When asked what she is most proud of over these 15 years, Arden replied, “Helping young artesanos ensure their futures as artists who can support themselves and their families through their beloved art, via FOFA’s recognition, educational enrichment and promotion, and strengthening their identities as artists.” She notes that in some cases this entailed artists’ reversing career plans; in other cases, artists who “aged out” of the competition limits (30 years of age or less) have been followed by their own talented children who participate in FOFA’s competitions.

To illustrate, Arden explained that “Fernando Peguero García was going to be an accountant” when he entered his first FOFA young artists’ competition at the age of 20. Encouraged by winning first prize in ceramics in both 2008 and 2011, he decided to enter Oaxaca’s Benito Juárez University’s Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts). In 2014 Peguero went on to win the extremely prestigious Mexican government’s annual National Youth Award. He credits FOFA for playing a fundamental role in his revised trajectory.

Weaver Bëërt Sánchez Martínez is another example; she explains, “he trained to be an engineer.” “Inspired in part by FOFA’s workshops over the span of a decade, this four-time Honorable Mention winner and one-time 3rd place winner began studying at Oaxaca’s Textile Museum, where he was then invited to teach. The museum encouraged him to apply for an international scholarship that enabled him to study weaving in France for six months.”

FOFA will be celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2023. As we look back on the organization’s accomplishments, we recognize that Arden had a hand in almost every activity. The FOFA board will continue to benefit from her expertise and commitment. And all of us will watch with interest to see where her time and talents take her, both in New York and Oaxaca.