UTRGV introduces new program and experiences
The university is working with the Institute of Museum and Library Services to introduce the Latinx Museum Internship and Fellowship Program, which would expand Latin culture in the community beginning in summer 2025.
Through this program, students will work at two Latino museums: the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum in San Benito and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Andres Amado, a UTRGV School of Music associate professor and project director of the grant that will fund all program expenses, said the deadline to apply for funds is at the end of the Fall 2024 semester.
A new museum-focused academic course will also be available with the start of the program.
Interns and fellows will earn $12 per hour, according to the Latinx Museum Internship and Fellowship Program project proposal.
Amado said the grant program is for students to gain experience working for a museum while also funding the museums.
“These museums that focus on this culture tend to be typically underfunded,” he said. “Also, students at institutions such as ours sometimes don’t have the opportunity to have this kind of professional development.”
The associate professor said both student and parent advisory boards helped in creating the proposal and developing the grant application.
“We are trying to include different voices in the process,” Amado said.
He said UTRGV started preparations for the grant in Summer 2023 by visiting the museums and staff members.
The project proposal states even though the Rio Grande Valley is mostly made up of Latinos, there is still only one Latino museum in the region: the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum.
Patricia Avila, executive director of the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum, said the grant helps since it is a nonprofit organization that operates mostly with volunteers.
“Those students that are going to be involved in the internship, they’re going to really get to have a little bit more insight of what it was like to run a museum,” Avila said. “I think for them, they’re going to walk out with a sense of pride being part of the Mexican culture.”
Anthropology graduate student Rene Ballesteros said being able to help in coordinating the program for future students was an amazing opportunity.
“So that way, [students] have that perspective of what it’s like working in the museum career in South Texas,” Ballesteros said. “It’s not always easy. There aren’t a ton of opportunities so, that’s why this internship will be really important because it’ll give students a really solid museum experience and an opportunity to travel, to see places outside of the Valley, too.”
Amado said there are a variety of career pathways available at museums.
“This is a wide university effort that I hope students can take advantage of and help grow and develop our professional expertise, which is going to help students in their professional lives, but also the Valley and also these museums that showcase the best of our local cultures and heritage,” he said.The associate professor said the grant details are being finalized and applications will open soon.
