La Tienda del Museo del Barrio: Promotion of Consumerism or Culture?
According to their mission statement, El Museo del Barrio seeks to “preserve, interpret, and promote the artistic heritage of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the United States” (Amigos Del Museo Del Barrio). Furthermore the sentence, “A MUSEUM IS A SCHOOL: THE ARTIST LEARNS TO COMMUNICATE. THE PUBLIC LEARNS TO MAKE CONNECTIONS” is engraved on the steel frame that contains the sleek glass entrance to the museum, which is a part of the new renovations that were finished in 2009. While the museum makes its intentions clear, after visiting la tienda del museo, or the museum’s gift shop, I questioned whether this shop promotes the museum’s apparent mission, or consumerism and cultural appropriation.
El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 by artist/activist/educator, Raphael Montañez Ortiz (About El Museo), who wanted an institution that would reflect the culture, politics, and struggles of the East Harlem neighborhood that is also known as “El Barrio,” or “The Neighborhood”, through the work of Nuyorican artists (Palacios). Eventually after being located in different school classrooms and storefronts, in 1977 the museum would find its permanent home on Fifth Ave’s “Museum Mile,” and would join the prominent Cultural Institutions Group (CIG), that provides museums with city funding in exchange for giving back to their respective New York City communities with public programs and exhibits (Palacios).
In the 1980s, El Museo had its funding frozen by the city due to fiscal mismanagement, which would not be the last time that the museum had financial troubles (Gilbert). In February 2013, after a series of financial problems that resulted in eight of its forty-one person staff being fired in January of that year, El Museo fired their executive director, Margarita Aguilar (Lee, El Museo Del Barrio Named). In December of that same year, the museum hired Jorge Daniel Veneciano, who would take on the challenge of restoring the museum’s $5.3 million budget (Lee, El Museo Del Barrio Names). As of today, El Museo del Barrio and its permanent collection of 6,500 works of art, is financially back on track, and as popular as ever (Permanent Collection).
El Museo del Barrio’s newly renovated gift shop is fairly small, as well as pleasant, modest, and interesting. The store features objects related to the museum’s permanent collection, and items that connect to whatever temporary exhibit is being displayed at the time. La tienda features many books and art, such as prints, that promote the museum’s mission to teach the public about Latin culture through art. The store also has objects that challenge negative social constructs, such as a shirt that challenges Eurocentric geography by placing South America on top of North America. While a lot of the items in the gift shop were related to the art in the museum, many of the items had no connection to the museum’s collection and exhibits, and were only in the shop because they had connections to Latin culture. With no connection to the art, these items are only in the shop because they will make the museum more money, which is not necessarily bad.
In the fiscal year starting on July 1st, 2012, and ending on June 30th, 2013, the museum only grossed about $70,000, while Margarita Aguilar’s total compensation was $194,292 (Form 990). While these numbers may seem large, they are actually quite small in comparison to the bigger museums in New York that gross millions. Thus selling items like Sonia Sotomayor’s biography “Mi mundo adorado,” is helping a small museum that does not make obscene amounts of money and has had financial troubles as recently as 2013. Sotomayor may be from the Bronx, not El Barrio, and her book may not be about Latin art, but selling it in the gift shop is a way for El Museo del Barrio to boost its funding. The museum serves its mission while promoting consumerism, yet this is not necessarily a terrible thing. What is bad however, is the cultural appropriation that takes place in the gift shop.
With 40% of El Museo’s visitors being non-Latino (Palacios), the gift shop sees its fair share of customers from the dominant white culture. When white customers purchase items in the gift shop that are a product of an oppressed Latin culture, the white customers often have no regard for its cultural significance, but instead buy these objects to fulfill their desire for the exotic. This form of cultural appropriation that takes place in the gift shop contains colonial elements, and has a variety of negative social implications. Items like the small metal Milagros, or Miracles, or the My Mayan Mirror toy for children, are often not bought for cultural understanding, but because “exotic” art, objects, and toys are viewed by the dominant cultural as novelty items.
La Tienda del Museo del Barrio is for the most part a tasteful reflection of the art and culture that is held and displayed in the museum. The store does a good job of creating a pleasant atmosphere for visitors that simultaneously serves the museum’s mission that Raphael Montañez Ortiz envisioned in 1969. While many of the items in the shop have no connection to the art in the museum, rather to Latin culture, their encouragement of consumerism financially serves the museum well regardless. However, many of the items in la tienda are subject to cultural appropriation, which is ultimately detrimental to the Latin community. Regardless of this negative aspect of the store, it still has more positive social implications, and if I were the director of El Museo del Barrio, there would be nothing that I would change about the gift shop. While some of the items are subject to cultural appropriation, they are also often bought and thoroughly understood and appreciated by Latin residents of Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood, and for that reason I would keep them in the shop.
– Peter A. Cook
Works Cited
“ABOUT EL MUSEO | El Museo Del Barrio.” El Museo Del Barrio. N.p., 2014. Web. 20 June 2015.
“AMIGOS DEL MUSEO DEL BARRIO.” Nonprofit Report. GuideStar USA, Inc., 2015. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/23-7156720/amigos-del-museo-del-barrio.aspx>.
“El Museo Timeline.” (2014): 1-34. El Museo Del Barrio, Feb. 2014. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.elmuseo.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Timeline.pdf>.
“Form 990.” (2013): 1-37. GuideStar USA, Inc. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2013/237/156/2013-237156720-0a52a8c0-9.pdf>.
Gilbert, Laura. “Laura Gilbert__ Art Unwashed.” : Museo Del Barrio Layoffs: More Financial Trouble at New York Museums. N.p., 22 June 2011. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://art-unwashed.blogspot.com/2011/06/museo-del-barrio-layoffs-more-financial.html>.
Lee, Felicia R. “Amid Turmoil at Museo Del Barrio, Its Director Steps Down.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/arts/design/margarita-aguilar-leaves-el-museo-del-barrio.html>.
Lee, Felicia R. “El Museo Del Barrio Named in Discrimination Claim.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/arts/design/el-museo-del-barrio-named-in-discrimination-complaint.html>.
Lee, Felicia R. “El Museo Del Barrio Names New Executive Director.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/arts/design/jorge-daniel-veneciano-to-lead-el-museo-del-barrio.html>.
Palacios, Nicholle Lamartina. “Latino Art in NYC: A Short History of El Museo Del Barrio.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 20 June 2015.
“PERMANENT COLLECTION | El Museo Del Barrio.” El Museo Del Barrio. El Museo Del Barrio, 2014. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.elmuseo.org/pc/>.
