smithsonian latino art collections - Smithsonian Latino Center

Among progress the Oversight Committee cited Latinos in senior management positions; the
Latino Initiatives Pool; the work of the National Museum of American Art (present-day SAAM) with its
educational programs; and the Latino Graduate Training Seminar (co-sponsored by the Smithsonian’s
Center for Museum Programs and IUPLR). However, as limited progress, it identified a gain of only 15
new Latino employees from 1994 to 1995; the lack of an Equal Opportunity Employment process and
oversight; little support for a Latino Museum on the National Mall due to budgetary and political
constraints at the time; no understanding of changing demographics in the U.S. and the growing U.S.
Latino population; and the prevalent conflation in the Institution of Latin America with U.S. Latinos or as
the interim report put it, the “approach of the Latino experience from the ‘outside in’ beginning with
Latin America rather than the U.S.” 71
Concurrent with the Oversight Committee, Secretary Heyman also appointed an internal Latino
Program Planning Committee on October 9, 1996 to “design a Smithsonian-wide response to the need
for a wider infusion of Latino perspectives in all aspects of its programming, and to quicken the pace of
change,” 72 with initiatives at a near term (1997-1998) and at a mid-term (1999-2000) for the institution’s
programs to integrate Latino contributions to US culture and heritage. Members of the Planning
Committee included Smithsonian Executives and Directors among them J. Dennis O’Connor, Chair
(Provost, Smithsonian Institution); Miguel Bretos (Counselor to the Secretary for Community Affairs);
Elizabeth Broun (Director, National Museum of American Art); Alice Greene Burnette (Assistant
Secretary for Institutional Advancement); Anna Cohn (Director, Smithsonian Institution Traveling
Exhibition Service); Spencer Crew (Director, National Museum of American History); Francisco Gómez
Dallmeier (Director, Man and the Biosphere Program); Robert Fri (Director, National Museum of Natural
History); Richard Kurin (Director, Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies); Donald Lopez
(Deputy Director, National Air and Space Museum) and Mara Mayor (Director, The Smithsonian
Associates).
This internal committee outlined four areas of focus: a central Latino presence, unit-based
initiatives, external collaborations and affiliations, and funding and staffing. The central Latino presence
was conceived as a pan-institutional Latino center “to provide a coordinating mechanism and a paninstitutional
focus to Smithsonian’s Latino initiatives…[utilizing as] possible model…the Center for
African-American History and Culture, combining an internal coordinating function, research
sponsorship (including internships and fellowships), linkages with outside organizations, public outreach,
and exhibitions.” 73 To that effect, Provost O’Connor appointed a planning group to make
recommendations of the structure and funding of a center to him by April 15, 1997. 74 Unit-based
initiatives included exhibitions, collection development, conferences and seminars, intenships and
fellowships and the use of New Media developed by each unit. External collaborations and affiliations,
per the 1996 Regents’ “Policy on Affiliations” sought to establish strategic partnerships and
collaborations for the Institution to connect with the American people beyond the confines of the
National Mall by utilizing electronic communications and media and creating a structured program for
Archives, SIA AH00394, Smithsonian Institution Office of the Secretary Counselor to the Secretary for Community
Affairs and Special Projects, Agency History, 1994-1995.
71 Ibid. pp. 5-7.
72 Report of the Latino Program Planning Committee, 1997, p. 2. Provided to author by Miguel A. Bretos.
73 Ibid. p. 3.
74 Members of the planning group included Miguel Bretos (Office of the Secretary), Elizabeth Broun (NMAA),
Andrew Connors (NMAA), Spencer Crew (NMAH), Olivia Cadaval (Center for Folklife and Cultural Studies), Rex Ellis
(Center for Museum Studies), Liza Kirwin (Archives of American Art), Richard Kurin (Center for Folklife and Cultural
Studies), Steven Newsome (Anacostia), Marvette Perez (NMAH), Olga Viso (HMSG) and Rick West (NMAI). Ibid.
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