Aloud_zine Art News El Paso wrote:
>
> Fellow Museum-L's:
>
> Thank you to everyone who's posted messages, kept up with this discussion
> and kept it alive and filled with energy and enthusiasm.  No one got a
> ticket this time. Bad news, the weekend is coming up and you have to turn
> in your car keys.  But some of you won't, because after all, museum people
> DO HAVE LIVES.
>
> It's been an interesting several days.  The original message of "Latinos
> in Museums" was posted to a handful of persons on Sunday and on Monday to
> the general lis t.  Since then, there's been an outpouring of comments,
> and opinions.  Remember, we all can learn from each other.  We all have
> something to say and share and unl ike Sara Phinney Kelley said a few
> posts back, the topic is IMPORTANT and merits everyone's ATTENTION.
>
> As you know, or maybe you don't, with the Western states cracking down on
> the historic migration of Mexicanos, many immigrants are now heading
> towards the Eastern seaboard, changing the cultural landscape.  Yes,
> Latinos are coming to your neighborhood soon.  Yes, even to small rural
> communities.  Any place there is a need for unskilled or semi-skilled
> WORK, migration, whether legal or not follows.  I think it's quite a
> fallacy not to be aware of other people's heritages and cultures even
> if those populations are not close at hand.  Sara, "...that of the 1400
> people on Museum-L, we didn't all respond because we're not interested.
> For some of us, our experience isn't relevant."
>
> Excuse me?!  A great part of the Internet is that it has collapsed
> geographical and cultural boundaries.  People who would have NEVER met or
> had a face to face conversation now can do so over e-mail.  So even if
> there aren't any Latinos or other people of color in your social strata,
> you're reading this verbatim aren't you.  By my name, you can assume I'm
> what you may call LATINO.  But I'm more than ju st Latino.  I'm a Chicano,
> yeah, Mexican-American for some, so I ask you, do you know the difference
> between a Chicano or a Puerto Rican or a Cuban or a Mexican national?  As
> a Chicano and probably one of the few some of you will ever have e-mail
> contact with in the near future, I have a specific culture, but I navigate
> in what we call "American" culture.  So, there it is.  We're all immigrants
> in cyber-space.
>
> Communities which never saw a Latino presence are now seeing otherwise and
> the changing demographics will AFFECT EVERYONE well into the next
> CENTURY, so BRACE yourself for CHANGE.  Some of you may even want to
> learn Spanish!  We here on the border (El Paso is on the U.S./Mexican
> border) have been dealing with international trade, economic, immigration
> longer than most states.  If you want to see the future, visit El Paso.
> So for those of you in the profession who think this DISCUSSION can't
> possibly affect you and your community or the profession, think again,
> either you work with the flow, you step aside or let it run you down.
> Museums have been stepping aside for far too long.
>
> Everyone's comments have been very interesting and for the most part
> supportive and proactive.  We've basically pointed to the need to attract
> and introduce people of color in museums, so we've addressed a bit of
> DIVERSITY or the need to train, recruit and retain multicultural persons
> for the field.  We can all agree this need in the field is a NECESSITY.
> Secondly, we've addressed the need to expose children to museums at AN
> EARLY AGE.  And to present communities with POSITIVE ACCESS POINTS for
> their participation in museums.  In her experience in museums and now as
> director of the Women's Rape Crisis Center, Farar Elliott, succinctly
> states, "I suggest to museums that want to be part of the life of the
> communities they are surrounded by, try looking for funding as if you were
> as important to the well-being of that community as another police officer
> or an emergency foodbank or a rape crisis center.  Because, of course, you
> are."  Well put Farrar!
>
> I immensely enjoyed reading Lauri Hinksman's eloquent post about her
> experiences at the Harlem Studio Museum (I was there in October, great
> museum!), her work with inner-city youth, reaching out to community and
> finding qualified and passionat e people who would otherwise be ignored
> because they didn't fit the bill.  Which connects to Heleanor Feltham's
> dilemma when she tried to find a museum job years ago.  I agree and hope
> more people feel the same way, that, "If museums are the k eeping places
> for our cultural icons, we need to be as inclusive of people as we
> are of objects, to encourage staff and volunteers who really represent
> our total community, even if it sometimes seems difficult."  Way to go
> Heleanor!
>
> In a dramatic chance of lanes, I think what Tongariki was talking about in
> his post "if they had hung an I. M. Pei pyramid on the front of the
> Smithsonian Castle building I am sure some reactionaries would have formed
> death-squads to hunt down the perpetrators," he meant as he said, museums
> are still quite conservative.  This isn't going to change any time soon.
> The whole issue of museums providing ACCESS and OPPORTUNITIES is like
> moving a mountain, done gradually by chipping away at it.  But we don't
> want to completely destroy the mountain, we just want to build a road to
> access it, so those who have the passion and the drive can climb it.
>
> Next week's topic:  Diversifying Boards.  Let it ferment in your mind.
> Gather your thoughts over the weekend.  See you on Monday.  Should
> governing boards of museums, whether public or private reflect the
> community?  You already know my answer to that puppy.  What do you think?
> For those of you would can't wait and must post, do so, the highway is
> open.
>
> Miguel
>
> P.S.  Genevieve LeMoine, I wouldn't move up to Maine, but living on the
> desert, a trunk show of the Arctic and its people, would suit me fine.
>
> Also Mr. Henry B. Crawford, sir, you never did get back to me as to how
> the Texas Tech Museum reaches out to Raza.


Dear Miguel,
        Gracias for moderating this very lively, interesting, and timely
exchange this week!  I found myself looking forward to the next posting
on the subject which has not been my usual response to Museum-L. (I'm
pretty new to the group, and was beginning to wonder if it was worth the
time it took to review/trash the postings daily).  I wanted to let you
know about my museum's outreach initiatives.  One of our best is our
staff development program, Examining Our Prejudices by Looking at
American Art which address issues of race, gender, age, class, etc. I
could send you info if you are interested.  We have also offered a
Spanish Immersion Teacher Workshop which utilized native speakers from
South and Central America, Spain, Mexico. . .  We have a bilingual
(Texan) (Anglo) staff member who is on the board of the Hispanic Alliance
and brings a lot of the issues you have addressed to the forefront.  As
we have a large and ever-growing migrant (mostly Mexican) population in
the Piedmont region of NC, we have offered Hispanic Festivals, now an
annual event, in which we reach out to these populations through social
service agencies and churches to bring people to the museum for a free
day of art and music.  Everyone who talks Spanish is let in free!  Tours
of the museum are offered in Spanish, there is music and lots of fun -
even for me, a mutt-Anglo and a non-speaker.  I just smile and talk with
my hands and a word or two.  I 'll learn Spanish someday!  Also, we offer
this day on Sunday, whihc is often the only day possible for these
families to come because they are working the rest of the time.  We want
them to see the beautiful art and the home of RJReynolds and to make them
feel that they are welcome.
We have a special needs coordinator who works with various groups from
that broad audience whose budget includes transportation costs and waiver
of admission (we are private).  Either the museum subsidizes or we
receive grants for this.

I must go, but again thank you.  I know there are some high-level
Hispanic executives at Sara Lee and I think we are trying to recruit them
to our board.  I have not yet had a Hispanic intern, but we never turn a
volunteer away.  We have a permanent collection of United States Art, and
we grow slowly but we are pushing for an acquisition of a work by a
Latino artist.  We aren't there yet, but I hope we keep up with the speed
limit!

sincerely

Kathleen Hutton
Coordinator of Education
Reynolda House Museum of American Art
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