Museo Alameda facts for kids

The Museo Alameda was once the biggest museum in the USA focused on Latino culture. It was also the first official partner of the Smithsonian Institution located outside of Washington D.C.. You could find it in the historic Market Square in Downtown San Antonio, Texas.

In 1996, a leader from the Smithsonian Institution, I. Michael Heyman, announced that the Smithsonian would have a presence in San Antonio. This led to the creation of the Smithsonian's special partnership program. In May of that same year, Governor George W. Bush signed a document from the Texas Legislature (the state's law-making group). This document officially made the Museo Alameda the State Latino Museum.

The Museo Alameda first opened its doors to the public in April 2007. Since then, it showed amazing art and exhibits from all over the United States and Latin America.

Past Exhibitions and Local Artists

The museum hosted many interesting shows. Some of these included:

• Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement (March 2009)
• American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music (June 2009)
• Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City (July 2008)
• Myth, Mortals, and Immortality: Works from Museo Soumaya de México (June 2008)
• Azucar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz (September 2007)

The Museo also featured the work of artists from San Antonio. For example, Alex Rubio and Vincent Valdez were part of the 2007 exhibition San Anto: Pride of the Southside/En El Mero Hueso (December 2007). Jesse Treviño also had his own show in 2009 called Jesse Treviño: Mi Vida (October 2009).

In 2011, an exhibit called Manuel Castillo: The Painting of a Community honored Manny Castillo. He was the Executive Director of San Anto Cultural Arts and passed away in 2009. The show celebrated his work and his contributions to the Westside Murals in San Antonio. It featured art by Castillo and 16 other muralists. These artists had created beautiful murals in San Antonio's Westside since 1996.

Museum Closure

In August 2012, the Museo Alameda announced that it would close on September 30, 2012. After its closure, Texas A&M-San Antonio took over the space with a new five-year lease. A TV station called KWEX-DT (part of Univision) also uses some of the space as a second studio in downtown San Antonio.

Exhibitions Over the Years

The Museo Alameda hosted many different exhibitions during its time. Here are some of them, listed by year:

Exhibitions in 2012

• Prehispanic Art in West Mexico
• Guanajuato through Reséndiz' Art

Exhibitions in 2011

• Día de los Muertos: A Mexican Tradition
• Manuel Castillo: The Painting of a Community

Exhibitions in 2010

• Revolution & Renaissance: Mexico & San Antonio 1910 - 2010
• Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942 - 1964
• Arte en la Charrería: The Artisanship of Mexican Equestrian Culture

Exhibitions in 2009

• Jesse Treviño: Mi Vida
• Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Murray
• American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music
• Becoming American: Teenagers and Immigration, Photographs by Barbara Beirne
• Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement
• Caras Vemos, Corazones No Sabemos: The Human Landscape of Mexican Migration

Exhibitions in 2008

• The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present
• Dichos: Words to Live, Love and Laugh by in Latin America
• Myth, Mortals, and Immortality: Works from Museo Soumaya de México
• Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City
• Laura Aguilar: Life, the Body, Her Perspective
• Of Rage and Redemption: The Art of Guayasamín
• Latin American Posters: Public Aesthetics and Mass Politics
• Nosotras: Portraits of Latinas

Exhibitions in 2007

• San Anto: Pride of the Southside/En El Mero Hueso
• Azucar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz
• Hupilies: A Celebration
• Cape
• Cantos del Pueblo: Tejano Musical Landscape
• Conjunto
• Tremendo Manicure
• Palace of Dreams: The Golden Age of the Alameda Theater