Museum Selected as Host for California Arts Council Administrators of Color Fellowship

JANUARY 14, 2021 – We are thrilled to be selected as a host organization for the California Arts Council Administrators of Color Fellowship program! CAC-ACF pairs 10 arts administrators of color with an arts and culture organization dedicated to equity and community engagement for a nine- to 12- month paid fellowship. It is an honor to be chosen as one of the ten host organizations!

Following a competitive application process in the summer of 2020, a panel of experienced arts administrators and culture bearers convened to select this year’s cohort, reflecting the breadth of expertise from arts leaders of color statewide. We are excited to introduce you to our fellow!

Luisa Martínez

(we/she/they) is a transfronteriza cultural organizer, artist, and educator. Her practice develops from the trans-border context of so-called Tijuana-San Diego, but looks to understand borders, and their imminent destruction, beyond geographical parameters. Much of her work focuses on tenderness and intimacy as strategies of resistance and solidarity. She investigates the ways our bodies can disrupt and transform space physically, emotionally, and politically. Luisa assembles creative spaces (ephemeral, recurring, and permanent) and centers underrepresented creators and their communities. She often organizes cultural situations and creates art collaborating with other co-conspirators, including Otros Dreams en Acción (ODA), Out Here, Borderlandnoise, Las Fotos Project, Casa Tamarindo, Burn All Books, IMPERFECTU (International Film and Gender Studies Festival), and artists from the music scene Ruidosón, among many others. She is currently part of the wonderful teams at Tijuana Zine Fest and The Aja Project.

The mission of the Museum of Us is to inspire human connections by exploring the human experience. Formerly known as the “San Diego Museum of Man,” we are no longer a place for the traditional, authoritative “museum voice.” Instead, we are creating a welcoming place for many community voices, especially those that have long been overlooked or silenced. As we further our commitment to equity, inclusion, anti-racism, and decolonization, we are excited to work with Luisa to expand our programs that address these core values.

In partnership with the California Arts Council and the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, this pilot fellowship program is made possible by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation and a one-time increase in state arts funding.

Click here to meet all of the Administrators of Color Fellows. To learn more about the fellowship program, click here.

Read the full press release here.