With plans for new hire, El Museo del Barrio reaches out to its critics

The statement, by museum director Patrick Charpenel, came in an email to friends of the museum and appeared to be an effort to reaffirm El Museo’s commitment to its Puerto Rican activist roots. Earlier this month the museum announced it had hired a new chief curator who had worked at the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. That choice drew criticism from some members of the New York Puerto Rican community and former museum staff members who favor the original emphasis on Puerto Rican heritage over a more global vision.

In his new email, the director said the next curator will play an important role in increasing the visibility of Latinx cultural outreach, “including but not limited to Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, Afro-descendants from the Americas and LGBTQ populations.”

El Museo, the oldest museum in the United States devoted to Latino art, was founded in 1969 by teachers, activists and artists to emphasize Puerto Rican cultural contributions. During the past year, some longtime museum members have criticized Charpenel, who came from Mexico in 2017, suggesting that the international focus has resulted in a series of missteps by the museum. In January, El Museo canceled plans to honor Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a German socialite with ties to Steve Bannon, former White House adviser to President Donald Trump and chief executive of his campaign, and to far-right political parties in Germany and France.

On Tuesday, Charpenel also announced a 50th anniversary show, “Culture and the People: El Museo del Barrio, 1969-2019,” to open April 11. He wrote that the exhibition “will reflect on our institution’s activist origins and pioneering role in culture and education.”

This past week, Marta Moreno Vega, former director of El Museo, wrote on Facebook that she had withdrawn a self-portrait from the show.

“It is now an institution divorced from our communities,” Moreno Vega wrote in remarks first reported by Art News. “I refuse to have my work in an institution that devalues the contributions of El Barrio’s creatives,” she added.

A spokeswoman for El Museo, Rose Mary Cortes, said the institution was “saddened” by Moreno Vega’s decision, adding: “Her work will be missed in the exhibition’s important dialogue on our collection and legacy.”

Cortes said that the museum had been discussing for months hiring a curator specializing in Latinx art. (Latinx is a gender neutral alternative to Latino or Latina.)

“We are committed to portraying the complexity and interplay between Puerto Rican, Latinx and Latin American communities,” the museum added in another statement. “We appreciate the feedback from our community and the recognition of the importance of the breadth and range of the Latinx experience.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.