Lilia Gonzáles-Chávez is a Fresno native, where she has been an active advocate for the arts for over 40 years. Lilia is a performing artist with over 30 years teaching and performing Ballet Folklórico. She served on the boards of the Fresno Art Museum and Fresno Arts Council prior to being appointed Executive Director in August 2011. Under her leadership, the Fresno Arts Council established the Rural Outreach Fund to support transportation of artists and audiences to rural communities. She is a co-founder of Arte America’s, the Latino cultural arts center. Lilia was appointed to serve on the California Arts Council by Governor Newsom in 2020. She was essential to the Community Arts Team in developing the Any Given Child plan for Fresno. Lilia created a teaching artists training program to increase participation of local artists in schools and she is credited for establishing the Fresno Poet Laureate program.