Thanks for provoking a conversation... some comments...

On Mon, 3 Mar 1997, Miguel Juarez wrote:

> Why aren't Latino students being exposed to working in museums as career
> options?

When I went to college (class of '82), only one of my professors
understood when I said I was interested in education and program work in
museums.  I was never encouraged to do anything with the college museum
because that was only for "art history" students.  I sought out
information and internships on my own by doing informational interviews.
Perhaps museums need to do a better pr job with all college depts and let
them know the diverse specialities and related skills related to working
in a museum. (By the way, I am not Hispanic.)

> What kinds of opportunities are available for Latinos or any person of
> color to intern in museums?

Anyone who wishes can always do an internship or become a volunter at
nearly any museum in the USA.  There are a few special programs, such as
ones run by the Office of Museum programs at the Smithsonian--a leadership
program for people of color and a high school internship program.

A few more comments-- I think we need to be careful about cutting off our
nose to spite our faces.  Sometimes we do not honor people who are working
with these "minority" populations just because they themselves are not of
that ethnic group.  I have trained Hispanic and Native American youths in
museum and documentation methods, but when I wanted to apply for a
leadership program addressing outreach to these populations I was turned
down.  I, and those I worked with, could have benefited from networking
with other colleagues with similar interests.  I could have benefited
from the training too.

Also, when I worked at NMAH on the Quincentenary program, I often received
requests to take on interns who had expressed interest in Hispanic or
Native American exhibition development, even though my work at that point
was more with programs and hands-on activities. The Native American
program at that point was only accepting interns who were Native American.
That means that fewer non-Indians were being sensitized to those issues.
It also means we are training ethnic groups to work in ethnic programs and
not whereever in the museum field.  Is this fair?  We need to look at how
we route people who express interest in training in the museum field.

just a few thoughts...

Lisa Falk
museum consultant, Albuquerque, NM
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