IU graduate heads to D.C

Currently, graduate student María Angélica Rodríguez is working on her thesis, a documentary on salsa dancing in Colombia.

However, she will step away from her research for the next six weeks to immerse herself in the Latino Museum Studies Program at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Rodríguez, who began pursuing her Master’s degree in Folklore at IU in 2011, took part in an internship in 2009 with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage after she graduated in Columbia with an undergraduate degree in anthropology.

Her continued involvement in the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival from 2009 to 2011 led to her interest in the LMSP.

“It is a unique program and opportunity, and I’m very, very happy to have been chosen to be here and with these people,” Rodríguez said.

Danny Lopez, Smithsonian Latino Center’s program and marketing director for three and a half years, said 15 graduate students were chosen from 72 applicants from across the nation.

“This is one of the longest running programs of the Latino Center, and it’s really our main goal to foster this new generation of cultural workers,” Lopez said. “We are working really hard to strengthen the alumni network. There are not a lot of curators out there working in the field, and this is a way to start that network and make the world a little closer for them.”

He said the application was largely essay-based, including questions about the applicants’ interest in the program and current acts of support for the development of Latino art and culture.

Rodríguez said the program is an opportunity to take part in discussions on museum practices, issues of culture representation for Latino Americans and ways to make Latino history more inclusive in the current American history.

“What this program is trying to do and what we want to do is very relevant because we are trying to bring structure in the ways Latinos communicate as part of this country and are represented right now,” Rodríguez said. “We want equality in spaces like museums in the U.S., and I’m very excited and very thrilled to be a part of it.”

Lopez said the first two weeks of the program, which began July 1 and ends July 12, allow participants to attend workshops and panel discussions, gain behind-the-scenes access to the Smithsonian museums and begin networking with fellow participants.

“This really creates a strong network of young, Latino professionals,” Lopez said.

The next four weeks, from July 15 to Aug. 9, will see the participants working in a Smithsonian museum or research center to further a current program initiative.

Rodríguez chose Smithsonian Affiliations as her practicum to conclude the program. Her work will include planning a Latino forum to take place in November.

“I’m very excited to be able to help with this forum and bring some of my experience in folklore as a way of culture articulation that goes on in the museum,” Rodríguez said. “I want to take as much as I can from this experience for my future as a professional and a Latino advocate.”

Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage program coordinator and curatorial assistant, has come to know Rodríguez’s work from her summer dedication with the Smithsonian.

“I’ve enjoyed working with María Angélica in various roles, as a passionate field researcher, a talented presenter and a hard-working coordinator,” Díaz-Carrera said in an email. “She has both the capacity for curatorial and logistical work, and I know she will do well in her career regardless of what path she chooses.”

She said Rodríguez’s passion for Latino representation has mirrored that of everyone in the Center.

“I have no doubt she will fair superbly,” Díaz-Carrera said. “She’s a really dedicated worker and cares deeply about issues of cultural representation.”

Lopez said current deliberations are determining plans for a Latino museum that could follow the same model as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and would be scheduled to open in 2015.

“It’s a good time for young, Latino scholars to imagine what this national museum for Latinos could be,” he said.

Though Lopez said the program does not guarantee a future job with the Smithsonian, it does familiarize and connect participants with those currently employed.

“My experience in being with this group of people interested in the same things as me in a way will help me network and rely on these people to collaborate with them on projects I envision or am part of,” Rodríguez said.