Fernando Cerón
Fernando Cerón | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Fernando Cerón Córdova in 2022 | |
| President of Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana | |
| Assumed office 30 August 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Camilo Restrepo Guzmán (es)[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1989 (age 36–37) |
| Alma mater | Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador |
| Occupation | |
Fernando Cerón Córdova (born 1989) is an Ecuadorian sociologist, cultural manager, and LGBTQ rights activist.[2][3] He has served as the president of the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana since 2021.[1]
Career
As a teenager, Fernando Cerón Córdova was influenced by the leftist ideas of his grandfather, who was a leader of a trade union. When he was in his final year of secondary school, he was expelled for painting graffiti. At the age of 16, he co-founded the cultural collective Pandemonium, along with other young, through which they carried out social protest via street art and literature.[4]
After rejoining and graduating from school, Cerón traveled to Quito and studied sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, where he participated in various theatrical, literary and artistic projects.[4] As a sociologist, he worked as a researcher on the studying Ecuador's Kichwa population.[3]
In August 2015, Cerón participated in the occupation of the Basilica Catedral de Ambato, organized by indigenous peoples as a form of support for the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). He acted as spokesman for the protestors and claimed that they were seeking response from the national government to a series of demands raised by the CONAIE.[5]
In 2017, Cerón was elected as the director of the Tungurahua chapter of the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (House of Ecuadorian Culture). At the age of 27 years, he was the youngest director in the history of the Tungurahua chapter of the organization.[4]
On 30 August 2021, Cerón was elected as the national president of the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana from among six candidates. His proposals included professionalization of Ecuadorian artists, decentralization of the institution's resources and the opening of the institution to traditionally excluded groups including indigenous people and Afro-descendant peoples, various urban subcultures and sexual diversity groups.[1][6]
[7][8] After taking office, Cerón denounced the existence of individuals on the institution's payroll who were not performing any work, as well as other administrative irregularities, such as the use of institutional spaces for private purposes.[9] In 2025, he was re-elected as president of the Casa de la Cultura.[10]
Activism
Cerón identifies himself as part of the LGBTQ community.[11] In his role as an activist for the rights of gender and sexual diversity groups, he has been involved with the collectives such as La Bola Minoritaria ("The Minority Ball"), Ambato Dispar ("Diverse Ambato"), Colectivo Independiente de Derechos Humanos ("Independent Human Rights Collective"), and Colectivo Visión y Diversidad ("Vision and Diversity Collective").[3]
He has also engaged in environmental activism, as a part of the Geo Juvenil ("Geo Juvenile") and Colectivo Yasunidos ("Yasunidos Collective").[3]
References
- 1 2 3 "Fernando Cerón es el presidente electo de la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana Benjamín Carrión" [Fernando Cerón is the elected president of the Benjamín Carrión Ecuadorian House of Culture Foundation]. El Universo (in Spanish). 30 August 2021. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ "El ambateño Fernando Cerón es el nuevo presidente de la Sede Nacional de la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana" [The Ambato-born Fernando Cerón is the new president of the National Headquarters of the Ecuadorian House of Culture]. El Comercio (in Spanish). 30 August 2021. Archived from the original on 1 November 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- 1 2 3 4 "Fernando Cerón Córdova, presidente de la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana" [Fernando Cerón Córdova, president of the Ecuadorian House of Culture]. Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (in Spanish). 23 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- 1 2 3 "Un joven se pone al frente de la cultura en Tungurahua" [A young man takes charge of culture in Tungurahua]. La Hora (in Spanish). 12 May 2017. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ "Manifestantes se toman simbólicament" la catedral en Ambato" [Protesters symbolically take over the cathedral in Ambato]. El Telégrafo (in Spanish). 19 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ "Manifestantes se toman "simbólicamente" la catedral en Ambato" [Protesters symbolically take over the cathedral in Ambato]. El Telégrafo (in Spanish). 19 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ "Un joven se pone al frente de la cultura en Tungurahua" [A young man takes charge of culture in Tungurahua]. La Hora (in Spanish). 12 May 2017. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ "Ambateño gana presidencia nacional de la Casa de la Cultura" [Ambato native wins national presidency of the House of Culture]. La Hora (in Spanish). 30 August 2021. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ Alfredo Cárdenas (13 September 2021). "Fernando Cerón, president of the CCE, plans institutional restructuring and equitable distribution of resources across the 24 provincial branches". El Universo. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ↑ "Fernando Cerón is re-elected president of the House of Culture". La Hora. 3 September 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
- ↑ "Ecuatorians disapprove of homosexuals running for public office" [Ecuadoreans disapprove of homosexuals running for public office]. La Hora (in Spanish). 28 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.