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| At Tigeorges, listening to the owner talk about his experience in Little Haiti |
The museum is closed Mondays, so this week started off with an off-site program touring two neighborhoods, Little Haiti and Little Havana. In a final section of the museum’s permanent exhibit, Gateways, we talk a lot about Cuban and Haitian immigration to Miami, detailing the similarities between the two groups when it comes to the political situation at home and the main push factors, and the differences in how Cubans and Haitians were treated in the U.S.. Since this is something we discuss often on tours, it was really interesting to get to go to these communities and experience these cultures first hand. In Little Haiti, we visited the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, a community center and market place that works to uplift local businesses and provide classes and free programs for the community. At Tigeorges Kafé, located inside the Caribbean marketplace, I discovered this amazing Scotch Bonnet peanut butter that George Laguerre, the owner, makes himself, and was able to listen to him talk about his journey from owning a chicken restaurant in Los Angeles to a becoming a vendor in Little Haiti. Though the neighborhood is bordered to the south by the recently gentrified and highly wealthy Design District, it didn’t feel touristy or disingenuous. You could see that this was clearly a place where people lived and worked and it was really special to be able to have a small window into that. In Little Havana, on the other hand, the influence of tourism is clear. Big Bus tours pulled up constantly, unloading dozens of people onto domino park or Azucar Ice Cream Company. It made me think back to the differences in legislation and treatment when it came to Cuban and Haitian immigration and how today one neighborhood is seen as quintessentially Miami and a top place to visit, while the other is slowly gentrified but largely unappreciated by those living outside of it. The trip gave me more material to draw from on my own tour, in which I talk about overlooked neighborhoods of Miami, Little Haiti included. It was a reminder that there are always larger social and economic forces at work that influence which communities’ stories get told and who gets to tell that story.
On Wednesday I assisted in co-leading a tour with Ingrid, an educator here. I led the section on Gateways, drawing on what I had learned from visiting these two communities. I learned that there is a level of modification that goes into each tour, and I had to switch some of my points up on the fly to engage with a younger audience. It was a really good learning experience to practice my touring skills. In the afternoon I had my reading at the Pinecrest Branch Library (which was lovely), and I got to see Ana again which was awesome! We had a small group, 4 kids in all, but I think they genuinely enjoyed the book and they were really involved in the music-making and coloring activities.
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| At the Library event with Ana |
Toward the end of the week, I got to practice as a gallery aide, which taught me a lot about the daily routine of educators at the museum. I was paired up with different educators and in different galleries to shadow them as they engaged with patrons and provided information about the various items on display. We talked to people ranging from small children to older couples, in multiple languages (including Italian at one point!), and on subjects as diverse as the story behind a bathtub on display to advice to the parent of a small child who’d hit their head the previous day. I learned that no two days are the same and that people bring a lot of interesting stories and information into the museum that helps them understand and integrate the pieces they’re viewing into their own experiences. It was nice to be able to engage with the public so directly and understand better what they’re interested in and what kind of questions they have about the museum.
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Ice Cream flavor at Azucar's in Little Havana
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