¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsa. Molina Family Latino Gallery at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, 2026.
New Directions.
In 2021, after working on multiple projects with The National Museum of African American History and Culture, I was invited to support the curatorial and design teams at the National Museum of the American Latino (NMAL). The assignment covered research and procurement for NMAL’s first major installation in the Molina Family Latino Gallery, located in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States introduced me to a group of Smithsonian professionals who had spent years collecting around Latino history and culture. It also introduced me to local and regional archives documenting stories of immigration, Latino identity, and Latino-American communities. Many were new to me, and I greatly enjoyed getting to know them.
A few years after ¡Presente! opened, the NMAL team asked me to join them on ¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsa, the Museum’s second large-scale exhibit in the Molina Family Latino Gallery. Because of the exhibit’s musical focus, I brought in partners at Clear Cut to handle the bulk of music licensing. Their work was critical to the success of procurement for this project, and I am deeply grateful for their involvement.
Looking ahead, I am thrilled that NMAL will finally have its own home in the Smithsonian’s Arts & Industries Building. It is a well-deserved recognition for the team working to bring the history and culture of Latinos in America to the National Mall.
