Max Maliga takes Center Stage as National Hispanic Cultural Center’s Performing Arts Manager

February 8th, 2023

Albuquerque, NM – The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) is excited to announce that Max Maliga is the Center’s new Performing Arts Manager.  

“Since joining the NHCC in December, Max has brought an exciting new dynamic and leadership to the NHCC’s Performing Arts program with his film industry experience, his creative eye, and his sense of humor,” said Noël Bella Merriam, NHCC artistic director and co-interim executive director. “I’m excited to continue collaborating with him as we build out our Performing Arts schedule for 2023 and beyond, and develop our Film Initiative. He brings valuable insight to the NHCC Program Manager Team’s vision as we all work together to communicate new narratives about Hispanic identity and culture with our community at the local and national level.” 

In his new role, Maliga heads up a department that manages three theatres, partners with a wide variety of local arts organizations, and produces dozens of original performances each year on the NHCC campus. The Performing Arts department is also the home of the NHCC Film Initiative, which will launch its first annual Film Symposium April 13 - 15. The mission of the NHCC Performing Arts program is to produce traditional and contemporary theatrical, musical, dance, film, and multidisciplinary performances and events that preserve and promote Hispanic arts and culture. 

“I consider it a great honor to work at the National Hispanic Cultural Center to lead the team tasked with promoting and advancing Hispanic, Latinx, and Chicanx performing arts and film,” Maliga said. “I believe equitable representation in the arts is essential to a healthy, functioning society. Art helps humans thrive in our modern world.”  

“Hispanic, Latinx, and Chicanx arts and artists have historically been underrepresented, undervalued, and under-respected. By partnering with local and national artists at the NHCC, I believe we can make progress towards more equitable representation for Hispanic, Latinx, and Chicanx arts.” 

Max received his BFA in film from Occidental College in Los Angeles and has more than a decade of experience working in the film industry, including stops at Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, and Albuquerque Studios.  

In addition to his film background, Maliga has been performing comedy for more than a decade. His love of improv and sketch comedy blossomed at HUGE Improv Theater and The Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. Max co-led Killing My Lobster, the Bay Area’s premier sketch comedy company, for five years, where he also worked as an actor, director, writer, and teacher.  

Outside of film and theater, Max is passionate about his family and friends, inclusivity, collaboration, transparency, team sports, teaching, travel, beaches, bodies of water, the sliding hammer, orcas, cats, and sloths. 

More about the National Hispanic Cultural Center The National Hispanic Cultural Center is dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts, and humanities. The NHCC presents mission-related events throughout the year, some produced by its history, literary, performing, and visual arts programs, and others by partnering with external organizations. Events take place at its 20-plus-acre campus, which includes a plaza, an art museum, a historically designated building, a library, and a genealogy center. The NHCC is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is further supported by the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation.