Arte Américas - Final Week

Final week done! This week was a gratifying conclusion to my time at Arte Américas. I staffed my last Plaza Night and ArtHop, and continued the administrative work that helps keep Arte in its best shape. I was also able to do my community outreach at the Fresno County Library - hosting an interactive storytime with kids!

Me posing at Arte's Cumbiatron Plaza Night event as an intern.

This week was a surreal but satisfying end to my time here. In my four weeks, I have grown to become heavily involved in the events at Arte, organizing meetings between community members and Arte staff, as well as taking on more of the roles of my supervisor, Operations employee Silvina Hernandez. I felt needed, and empowered to make suggestions and changes to help Arte for the better. It was a great change from my first week, where I had yet to make a home in this space. At the conclusion of this month of service and museum experience, I have grown more confident in my abilities to delegate tasks, as well as communicate with others. I even got to improve my Spanish :')

An ongoing balance between the past, present, and future is what I value most about Arte.


Arte has also undergone major changes from when I first began at the beginning of July. Now halfway through the Plaza Nights events, Arte is growing inside and out to meet the demand of the Fresno community. This week marks the opening of the extension of the Caminos exhibit: Vanishing Frontiers. The room has been renovated from storage space to expand on the current realities of life as a Latinx individual, especially a Latinx individual in the Central Valley. I find it really valuable that Arte is working to remain as relevant to current issues facing the Latinx community as when they first opened, and am glad I got to play a role in Arte's ongoing changes.

 

 While the changes I have undergone and witnessed over the course of this week have definitely changed my life, I am also struck by the scale these changes will need to be impact the wider community. It reminded me of the conversations we had during Washington Week about being able to take what we've learned, then from training, but now about museum work as a whole, back to our home communities and encourage others to lead. I am confident after these four weeks that I will continue to carry these lessons and new mindsets with me as I continue life, now a YAP alumni.

Statistics highlighting the disparity between demographic representation and institutional representation in the Central Valley- a measure of how far we have gone, but also how far we have left to go.

Thank you to those who have read my posts - I hope you have reflected with me throughout the last four weeks, maybe even learned along with me. Gracias, Papi Ford!

All jokes aside, I am grateful to have been given the financial means to afford this experience, and am thankful to the Smithsonian Latino Center for placing me in Arte's hands.

Best,
Maya Castillo

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