Congratulations to Catherine Dornfeld Tissenbaum, Idalia Nuñez Cortez, and Monica Gonzalez Ybarra, whose project Our Lives, Our Dreams, Our "Voces": Leveraging Community-Based Collaborations to Increase Representation of Latina/x Girls’ Narratives in Museums has been awarded a Racial Equity Research Grant from the Spencer Foundation.
Their project, one of about 20 selected for Spencer Foundation funding, initially started with funding from the campus' OVCDEI and Chancellor's 2021-22 Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program.
This project amplifies Latina/x girls’ voices through co-creation of a multimodal exhibit that represents the varied cultures, languages, and histories of local Latinx communities. To combat deficit views, museum spaces must make intentional and explicit efforts to recognize Latina/x girls and afford representation of their histories, stories, languages, and cultures in humanizing and empowering ways. In this collaborative study, Latina/x girls will imagine, design, and curate an exhibit that represents and honors their aspirations, hopes, and stories. In turn, visitors gain opportunities to build cross-cultural understandings, relationships, and solidarity. We have partnered with Girls Go for It! (GGFI), a local nonprofit community organization that hosts professional leadership experiences for girls, and the Krannert Art Museum (KAM) to increase visibility of Latina/x girls’ experiences and promote equitable, authentic representation of Communities of Color in public spaces.
Learn more about the Spencer Foundation's Racial Equity Research Grant program.