El Museo Del Barrio - Which Way?

[Jose]

El Museo Del Barrio is currently looking/searching for a new Executive Director. Local community activist would like a executive director with a more Puerto Rican leaning, while others want someone who can accentuate the totality of Hispanic Arts, including Central and South America.

In other words, local activist want the Museo to show local Puerto Rican artists and their work, while non-locals want the Museo to show a more South American and some Puerto Rican art.

What do you think?

[kgorell]

Jose,

I don't think it's as black and white as that.

Showing Puerto Rican art is a major part of El Museo's roots and mission. However, East Harlem's population is changing, and there are more Mexican, South and Central American families here now. To not include both the indigenous and modern art of other Latino cultures would be a mistake.

In other words, compromises should be made to build unity and present the eclectic world of Latino culture in a more comprehensive way.

What do other people think?

Thanks for listening,
Katherine

[Jose]

Thanks for writing Katherine. I respectfully disagree.
My problem is that it seems that Puerto Ricans can have nothing to call their own. Why do we have to share an institution we created with anyone? El Museo was founded with certain intentions and by Puerto Ricans.

It seems to me that we share power in our community even though we are the majority, we share institutions, and even some Hispanic named institutions have been renamed to English names. Where does it end? The East Harlem art community would be happy to help other groups start their own institutions. Most of the time though, it is better for everyone to go it alone, as it is a learning and growing experience.

Let me know what you think.

[raygarcia]

My is Rene Caraballo. My father grew up here in El Barrio and supported and painted here. He exhibited here locally at The City of New York and El Museo Del Barrio. He died back in 1992 and I have gone to el Museo to see if they would exhibit my fathers work and I went thru alot of RED tape. So I just got disgusted and never followed up. El Museo purchased two pieces for
their collections and I am sure it is gathering dust. Too bad! My father was truly a Master in several mediums and is now being feature in the Daily News "Viva New York" August 4 edition on the front cover. The story will be in the Sept issue. I feel that the next person to head El Museo del barrio should accent the needs of El Barrio. My father was on the drawing table trying to figure out how to help our people. He started "Hispanic Arts League" to help struggling arts display there works and also provided a portal to organize group shows. If I can be of any help, reach me by e-mail.

[nechodoma@juno.]

Dear Jose: You ask "why do we need to share" the institution, why not keep it "our own"? The answer is fairly simple: because from Day 1, el Museo had exhibitions about other cultures! Look up the list (of the last 32 years) of all the exhibitions mounted on the walls. It was, is and will remain a Puertorican museum OPEN to others, to show them about us, but also to show how much we have in common with others....

The founders of el Museo, most if not all were Puertorican, had a compelling vision back then and it continues to this day.

That, for example, wooden scultptures from Puerto Rico--"santos de palo" which were in the permanent collection were a cultural phenomenom of Puerto Rico were ALSO found in other countries--therefore they would show the santos from Puerto Rico but also explain and illustrate that that tradition was SHARED by other countries. That it had come from Spain and the Catholic church. That by making sure that children could see these connections to many other cultures they were not alone. That their culture, specifically from PR, was part of a bigger world beyond: it is rich and huge.

Another example is that the famous "Vegigante" masks from Ponce, which el Museo has in its collection to this day were ALSO linked and related to the mask-making traditions of Mexico anfd other Caribbean cultures. These exhibitions were in place decades ago inside el Museo!

Your chilodren and my children and all children of Puertorican heritage will ALWAYS have access to that permanent collection, they are taking care of it for generations to come.
I think that instead of worrying about "which direction" el Museo is going, we need to support it by going to visit it as often as we can, becoming members (and therefore we become shareholders), and make constructive suggestions and recommendations. We need to show el Museo that we are willing to roll up our sleeves to work with them to make it even better: more gallery space so that MORE art & culture can be exhibited.

I think we can be and do BOTH. el Museo is our premier cultural institution--lets not "tear it down" by having a family squabble in public. That only damages the institution.

If you remember there were dark days for el Museo some time ago: its doors were shiut down and its director escorted out the door by Marshalls. How soon we forget. He was accused of missapropriation of funds--this was a media spectacle from which el Museo had to spend YEARS and YEARS to recover from. No funder wants to give $$$ to controversies, nor does the city of New York.

I think el Museo has done a great job!

[Jose]

nechodoma,
Thanks for comments. They are appreciated. You made some good points. I'd rather not have this all out in public and I really don't mind showing the greatest that came out of mother Spain by virtue of all the great countries and cultures founded under her apron. Like Bolivar, I sometimes wish all Hispanic were all united.

But I'd feel much better if more East Harlemites (Hispanic or not) were on the board of El Museo. Now that would yell Investment to me.

El Museo needs to move to a bigger place (within the confines of El Barrio) and devote a good portion of that space to the culture that founded it. A place we can call our own within the bigger space.

[nechodoma@juno.]

While we wait for the Great Society--a la Simon Bolivar--which I look forward to myself and I am in total agreement with you there are a few things we can do which go along with your suggestions:

1. Any East Harlemite who wishes to be considered to be a member of the Board of Trustees of el Museo del Barrio can and ought to submit their resume/cv to the Nominations Committee. Call and find out. That's where the process starts, usually, for any Board of Trustees of any museum. Perhaps no East Harlemite has done this before so how could there be one if no one did this before?

Remember though, the Board of Trustees of ANY museum is NOT a Board of Education, nor a School Board, nor a Community Board. (Those other BOards function by open elections, political patronage, etc.) Each and every one of these boards is radically different. Once on a museum board you are expected to do heavy duty fundraising and contribute your own $$$ to support the mission of that museum. I do not know what the level is today at el Museo but to give you an example I read that the Cooper Hewitt Museum they recently increased the contributions level from $15,000 to $20,000 PER YEAR. That's what a museum trustee does! At the Studio Museum in Harlem there is a board of trustees and the criteria are the same; by the way I do not think living in Central Harlem is a requirement for being a Trustee over there nor do I think it is necessary to say "the majority of the Board at Studio Museum has to come from or live in Central Harlem". Think about it.

I can go on about this but (I am not on any museum board) there seems to be a big misunderstanding as to what a museum board does and how a museum works.

I can also anticipate one argument: "Oh but the original founders were not elitists and they wanted a place for the community artists to hang their work".....this is true on the one hand but also on the other hand they named it "el Museo" and not "La Casa de Todos Nosotros". Therefore, they did call it a museum, they founded a museum, this remains to this day. Museums by definition are "elitists" by nature--they select certain work to be collected and/or shown and certain work is not and there is nothing wrong with that because the doors of the instituition are open to everyone especially to our children and to ALL East Harlemites.

El Museo del Barrio has permanent collection of more than 8,000 objects to take care of it in perpetuity!!!! Imagine that for a moment. The role of a "community gallery" on the other hand (it does NOT have a permanent collection) is precisely to help those community artists hang up their work: this function is being done very well by Taller Boricua. So there is no need to compete: each institution is doing its job in a complementary fashion.

2--I agree 1,000% that we ought to ALL work towards getting a bigger building for el Museo within el Barrio. One proposal that made sense (from what I read) was for el Museo to move next door when the Museum of the City of New York moved out. El museo would then have a WHOLE building to itself; it would go from 7,500 square feet of gallery space to over 30,000 square feet. As you know currently it is but one tenant in a multi-tenant building and Boys Harbor holds the master lease; so it cannot grow in there any more.

However, Giuliani supported the idea but Bloomberg threw it out. So we should all direct our energy to getting our elected officials to put pressure on the City, the State, and the Federal government to get us a bigger place or build a new one. Look at the Museum of African Art right now going up at the corner of 5th Ave. and 110th St.--a brand new building from scratch!!!! on 5th Ave and joining Museum Mile--they used to be in SoHo. Here is another example: the City of NY gave 10% to both the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum to BUILD new buildings!!!! So in the first it was $65 million and in the second it was $75 million. If el Museo proposed tomorrow to build a brand new structure costing $30 million would the City of NY provide $3 million right away? NOW that gets me furious!!!!

I went one day to see the current show at el Museo and it was PACKED with people of all walks of life and MANY, MANY from East Harlem. There was salsa playing and dancing in the courtyard. Some people in this country hear the words Frida Kahlo and they go into a frenzy--for whatever reasons--but I think that is good because the next show is on the Master PR artist Tufino so I hope the crowds will be similar. That exhibition will occupy the same space as Frida Kahlo. Because you have to take one down to put the other one up.......if there was more space that would not be necessary.

With more space you could have galleries dedicated to: Puerto Rico, el Barrio, Tainos, Vegigantes, traveling blockbuster shows, etc.

Wouldn't THAT be great? The founders of el Museo, I think, would be very, very happy: el Museo "made it" after all the struggles, the uncertainties, the dark years. Their original vision finally triumphed and is here to stay for our children and their children's children.