TAM Announces Multicultural Scholarship Recipients

The Association of Museums has awarded three multicultural scholarships to attend the Texas Association of Museums Annual Meeting:

Christina Hardman received a graduate degree in Museum Studies from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in May 2008. While there, she completed a directed internship at the National Museum of the American Indian’s Cultural Resource Center, where she gained valuable knowledge about culturally sensitive collections care and community curated exhibition. She also worked for the Exhibits Department of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and for the Presidential Gifts branch of the Presidential Materials Staff at NARA. She currently works at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Christina is a native Texan and happy to be back home in Texas!

Kendra Jones has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Anthropology and a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. She is working towards earning a Master of Arts in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington. She works at the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Texas as the Museum Coordinator and has recently been promoted to Director of Collections and Exhibits. Within her professional museum career, her intent is to successfully start and continue to enhance the capacity of her museum.

Aminatta Kamara has recently completed her Master of Arts in Art History at the University of Texas at Austin. Her thesis was titled, "Civil Rights in Black and White: The Life Magazine photographs of Flip Schulke and Charles Moore." She is currently the curator at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur and is thrilled to be able to attend her first TAM annual meeting.

Congratulations to these very worthy individuals!

An Opportunity for Future Latino Museum Professionals!

This is from the Smithsonian Latino Center:

The Smithsonian Latino Center's Young Ambassadors Program consists of an in-depth seminar designed to encourage Latino youth to examine and embrace their cultural identity and an internship opportunity that increases the participants exposure to the arts and culture field. The goal of the program is to foster knowledge and pride in Latino cultural identity, as well as provide the participants with financial support with which to seek higher education. Through the program, we empower Latino youth to develop leadership and academic skills. This program is made possible through the generous support of Ford Motor Company Fund.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Young Ambassadors is a national leadership development program for high school seniors with the aim to cultivate the next generation of Latino leaders in the arts and culture fields through one-on-one interaction with artists, curators, historians, and other museum and arts professionals.
Students with an interest and commitment to the arts (e.g. film, dance, design, music, visual, performing, and/or literary arts) are selected to travel to Washington, D.C. for a week-long arts enrichment and leadership seminar at the Smithsonian Institution. Conducted by world-renowned experts in their respective fields, the seminar encourages youth to examine Latino identity and embrace their own cultural heritage through first-hand observation of the Smithsonian’s Latino collections, lectures, and other activities. Following the seminar, students return to museums and other cultural institutions in their local communities, including Smithsonian affiliated organizations, to participate in a four-week summer internship. This program is made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund.

For more information, go to the Program's site

Please spread the word!