This session addresses the importance of creating new relationships and patterns of visitation and support for museums, applicable to any targeted constituency. Speakers share stories of bringing diverse visitors together for cross-cultural dialogue. Their strategies for engaging the Latino community can serve as guidelines for incorporating diversity into strategic planning, professional development, communication tools, and public programs. Moderator: Jill Hartz, Executive Director, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Presenters: Gail Anderson, President, Gail Anderson & Associates Salvador Acevedo, Principal, Contemporanea Gabriela Martínez, Curator of Education, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach Claire Muñoz, Director, E.L. Cord Museum School, Nevada Museum of Art

1. Bienvenidos
Engaging Latino Audiences
&
Building Cross-Cultural
Engagement

2. Bienvenidos
Session Goals & Format
• Strategies, tools, and contexts
• Perspectives on diversity and inclusion
• Models that engage new communities and build new relationships and
patterns of visitation and support, applicable to targeted constituencies
• Latino Engagement as template for cross-cultural communication and
participation
• How this affects strategic planning, professional development,
communication tools, and public programs
• 3 panelists + Q&A/Discussion

3. Our Panelists
• Salvador Acevedo, Principal, Contemporánea
• Gabriela Martinez, Curator of Education
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach
• Gail Anderson, President
Gail Anderson & Associates
• Moderator: Jill Hartz, Executive Director
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Univ. of
Oregon; President, Assoc. of Academic
Museums & Galleries

4. Bienvenidos!
Building Cross Cultural Engagement
with Latino Audiences
An Institutional Perspective
WMA 2014

5. Audience Building Must Be
an Institutional Commitment

6. Thoughts for Today
Essential elements:
• Clarity of motivation
• Broad responsibility
• Leadership commitment
• Healthy culture
• Integrated approach
• Relationship building

7. Institutional Motivation,
Responsibility, & Leadership

8. Clarify Your Motivation
To understand:
• Why you are expanding audiences and who is
making this a priority
• The level of commitment needed to broaden
audience engagement
• The potential changes that engaging diverse
audiences may offer the institution
• How honest institutional-assessments
increase mindfulness & strengthen success

9. Institutional Responsibility
Expanding audiences is:
•Everyone’s responsibility & should not rest on
the shoulders of only the education, visitor
services, or marketing departments
•Involves the work of the Board, staff, &
volunteers
•Integral & central to the museum vitality
•An extraordinary opportunity to make a
difference in the community & the museum

10. Museum Leadership
Ensures that:
• Audiences & community are central to museum
operations
• Board & staff are committed to engagement
• Thoughtful preparation, adequate resources, &
ongoing support are consistent
• Necessary changes are implemented
• Institutional identity, mission, vision, &
inclusive practices are all integrated

11. Organizational Culture Can
Predict Success

12. Organizational Culture
Reveals:
• Styles and methods of communication
• How staff engage with one another
(deliberately and in unspoken ways)
• Acceptance of diversity, identity, & different
cultural backgrounds
• Levels of respect, trust, & support
• How problems arise & conflict is resolved
• Any needed work towards supporting a
healthy, open, & sensitive internal culture

13. Integrated & Holistic Commitment
Take the time to:
•Strengthen culture intentionally
•Clarify everyone’s roles & responsibilities
•Build in time for training & reflection
•Regularly engage your communities on their turf
(outside of your museum)
•Nurture relationships & keep conversations alive
for the long-term
•Focus on the joy of community building

14. Audience Engagement
Is About Building Relationships

15. At the End of the Day,
It’s All About…
People & Relationships:
• Listening & learning
• Connecting with people
• Building something bigger
• Participating in meaningful change
• Creating broader social value

16. Gracias!

17. ¡Bienvenidos!
Engaging Latino Audiences and Building Cross-Cultural
Bridges
Western Museums Association
Salvador Acevedo, Principal
October, 2014

18. The New “Us”
18

19. Percent of total US population by ethnicity, 1960 -
2060
3% 6%
5%
17%
12%
8%
31%
13%
© Contemporanea 2014 19
100
80
60
40
20
0
1
4%
10%
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060
All other
Asian
Hispanic
Black
White
85%
63%
43%
Source: Pew Research Center, 2014
2043- Majority-minority

20. Some Facts…
• Latinos are now the largest ethnic group in California
(2014) and Nuevo Mexico (2008)
• “Minority” groups make the majority of K-12
enrollment nationwide (2014)
• Latinos, for the first time in history, make the majority
of the University of California’s enrollment (2014)
Client Project Title 20

21. Latinos and AA are highly connected…
21
86%
49%
84%
46%
90%
50%
Own a cell Own smartphone
Latino
White (non
Latino)
76%
73% 69%
68%
60%
66%
Access internet on
mobile
Use social media
Among all internet users Among all adults
Source: Pew Research Center, 2014
© Contemporanea 2014

22. 22
What is Latino? A Few Thoughts on Identity
• Cultural identity depends on the context.
• Growth in the Latino population comes from 2nd and
3rd generations.
• 2nd and 3rd generation ethnic identity is at a all time
high (Pew Research Center)
• 45% of Latinos identify as white (Census)
• “Latino” has never been a homogenous identity (and
neither has been any of the other ethnic identities,
including white).
© Contemporanea 2014

23. Engagement with Cultural Institutions
23

24. 24
• Cultural participation among Latinos and African Americans
over-index that of non-Latino whites (GPCA, 2011).
• Participation occur at non-traditional venues (Irvine, 2011)
• Non-whites and Latinos saw no declines in their arts
attendance rates from 2008 to 2012; on the contrary, they
even saw increases in some categories. NEA/SPPA, 2013.
• Social dancing is the most popular form of art-making or
art-sharing. Young adults and Hispanic Americans are
among the most active in this category. NEA/SPPA, 2013.
• Latinos bought 25% of movie tickets sold in 2013 (MPAA,
2013)
Cultural Participation Trends
© Contemporanea 2014

25. 25
Signs of Inclusion
What Latinos perceive as signs of inclusion (or not):
• Spanish language communications
• Latino staff/stakeholders
• If they perceive value, there are no obstacles for
participation
• They perceive a lack of interest from mainstream
cultural organizations for engaging them
Contemporanea, 2014
© Contemporanea 2014

26. The Question
26

27. How do we reach out to Latinos/ Hispanics?
VS.
How do we change so we remain relevant when society
changes?
27

28. Thank you!

29. Engaging Latin@ Audiences:
A Case Study
Presented by: Gabriela Martínez
Curator of Education, Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)

30. View of the Museum of Latin American Art from Downtown
Long Beach

31. Founded in 1996 by
Dr. Robert Gumbiner
Located along the
border of Downtown
Long Beach in a
residential area
Focus on Modern and
Contemporary Latin
American Art
MOLAA Founder Dr. Robert Gumbiner (US, 1923-2009)
ABOUT MOLAA

32. MOLAA’s 2007 Mission Statement:
MOLAA's mission is to education the public about contemporary Latin American
fine art (by artists who have lived and worked in Latin America since WWII)
through the presentation of a significant permanent collection, dynamic
exhibitions and related cultural and educational programs.
MOLAA Members at the Opening for Sociales: Debora Arango Arrives Today

33. The Average MOLAA Member…
…is a
Caucasian
female
…is over the
age of 60
…has a post-graduate
degree
MOLAA Members Enjoy the opening party for the exhibition Play with Me in
MOLAA’s Sculpture Garden

34. Enacting Change
to Create
Accessibility:
Policies,
Programs, and
Personal
Relationships
MOLAA President and CEO, Stuart Ashman, with Summer Art Camp participants.

35. We are Engaging
We are Unique
We are Intellectually
Stimulating
We are Relevant to
Diverse Communities
We are Alive with
Culture!
2012 Updated Vision Statement

36. Target Free Sundays & Family Festivals

37. Interactive Gallery Experiences
Left: A mother and daughter play Lotería in the gallery’s Participation Station
Right: Youth enjoy an “Artventure” tour, guided by Omar Gallegos, a local artist

38. Curatorial Initiative: Touch the Art. MOLAA’s 2012
Summer Challenge

39. Membership Initiative: Thematic, Public, Art
Opening Parties

40. MOLAA ON THE MOVE BUS PROGRAM
Funded in Partnership with Proyecto Esperanza
and Los Angeles Unified School District 6 Teachers
Left: Anton Elementary School Students Arrive at MOLAA
Right: Students wait to board the MOLAA bus

41. OFF SITE OUTREACH

42. Visitors admire the Gypsy Rose at the opening for MEX/LA: Mexican Modernism(s)
in the United States, 1930-1985

43. The Museum of Latin American Art expands knowledge and appreciation of modern
and contemporary Latin American art through its Collection, ground-breaking
Exhibitions, stimulating Educational Programs, and engaging Cultural Events.
2012 Mission Statement

44. 2014 Board Initiative: “Latin American” now defines
Chican@/Latin@ artists who have exclusively lived and
worked in the U.S.
“One of the objectives of
our founder, Dr. Robert
Gumbiner, was to remain
relevant to the community
and the public in our
exhibitions and programs.
This resolution allows us to
maintain our relevance as
an arts institution in a
nation with a growing
Latino demographic. I am
very pleased to be leading
the museum in this new era
of inclusiveness.”—Stuart
Ashman, MOLAA President
and CEO
A change of definition.