The weekend of April 13-15, San Antonio will debut the largest Latino museum in the United States: the Museo Alameda. Combining art, history, cultural education and live performance, this Smithsonian affiliate will tell the unique story of the Latino experience in America – past, present and future.
Expected to attract more than 400,000 visitors a year, the Museo Alameda has 20,000 square feet of state-of-the-art exhibition space that will house seven galleries – four of which will be rotational, including a Smithsonian Gallery, with exclusive access to more than 1.5 million objects from the Smithsonian Institution. The other three will display long-term collections of loaned objects and programming developed by guest curators.
There is also a dramatic sculpture garden, featuring pieces from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. And a project space called “Proyectos” will give emerging and established artists the room to create new works.
Grand opening events will include a public outdoor concert by legendary recording artist Linda Ronstadt, who will perform with a mariachi orchestra; a special public ceremony presented by Ford and AT&T, major contributors to the museum; an outdoor fund-raising gala for several hundred invited guests in front of the museum; a private, celebrity-studded “after gala party”
hosted by People en Español; and “Quiero MAS,” a two-day family festival featuring musicians, artists, cooks and national acclaimed performers representing diverse Latino and Latino-connected traditions.
Spectacular Smithsonian pieces scheduled for public display during the opening include the famous Smithsonian Mace, Emperor Maximilian’s enormous emerald ring, and an early NASA satellite.
Courtesy of grouptravelblog.com
