Latino History Museum Gets Go-Ahead Grant

Supporters of a proposed California Museum of Latino History, Art and Culture are moving forward with confidence, having hired a consultant to help find a site and develop fund-raising plans now that they have received $300,000 in seed money from the state legislature.

“I think the legislation and the state grant now establish this museum as the museum for Latino history, art and culture in California,” Assemblyman Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier), who authored the funding bill, said Tuesday. “It provides us now with the credentials that we need to talk to corporations and other philanthropists.”

As described in Calderon’s legislation, the museum is intended to “inform and educate the public as to the contributions of Latino-Americans and enhance cultural understanding and appreciation.” It will house contemporary artworks and historical and cultural artifacts, he said.

Trustees of the proposed museum have hired David de la Torre, a former director of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, as consultant “to help develop the mission for the museum as well as a long-term and short-term development plan, which would include fund-raising strategy, site location and development,” Calderon said.

The legislature’s passage of the $300,000 bill came earlier this month after a four-year effort by Calderon, Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre and other Latino community leaders. The museum was originally envisioned in 1980 by historian Antonio Rios-Bustamante, who four years later created a nonprofit organization to raise money for it. In 1986, Calderon introduced a bill to secure state funds for a feasibility study of the proposed museum.

“It’s been long in coming,” Alatorre said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re on our way. . . . What these initial monies will do is provide us the seed money to begin.”

Last year, the Los Angeles City Council allocated $50,000 to be used toward the building of the museum.

No site has yet been selected, but Mike Burns, Calderon’s chief of staff, said he was “99% sure it will be in the L.A. area, just because most of the Hispanic population is in the area and it wouldn’t make sense not to have it there.”

The cities of Duarte, Inglewood and Los Angeles have all expressed interest in housing the museum, he said, and corporations such as Citibank, Chevron and Arco are considering making contributions to the private, nonprofit museum.

So far, Calderon said, he has received about 20 offers to donate money, land or buildings.

“There are cities, counties, private developers that have made offers already,” Calderon said. “It will cut costs significantly if we can get a donation from some municipality for the land. . . . I believe that’s entirely possible just based on the offers we’ve had already.”

Although no date has been set, Calderon said he believes that ground can be broken within the next 18 months.

Starting in January, 1991, the museum’s board of trustees will report yearly to the state legislature on the status of the museum and on how the state funds have been spent.

“Passage of this legislation marks a new era of recognition and respect for the Latino community,” Calderon said. “The importance of the legislation is not simply the construction of a museum. Rather, it is the opportunity to educate our children and the entire state about a rich and varied culture that has been overlooked for too long. With the Hispanic population in California growing so rapidly, this small acknowledgment of their far-reaching contributions is very meaningful to the entire Hispanic community.”