El Museo Del Barrio - History

History

Originally, the museum was a creation of the Nuyorican Movement and Civil Rights Movement, spurred by concerns over a lack of cultural diversity in city educational programs and educational opportunities in the barrio. The group also included a number of parents, educators and community activists. Artist/educator Rafael Montañez Ortíz was enlisted to create materials for schools in East and Central Harlem that would highlight Puerto Rican art, history and culture. Ortiz reconceived this project as a community museum that would primarily function as a neighborhood institution serving Puerto Ricans in East Harlem. The museum also sought to define itself as an educational institution and its original location was a public school classroom. With the increasing size of the Latino population throughout New York City, of which Puerto Ricans are still the majority, the scope of the museum has expanded, breeding conflict with some artists, scholars, and neighborhood activists anxious to preserve its original mission.

In 1977, El Museo joined the Cultural Institutions Group (also known as CIGs) which helped increase and maintain its funding. Its funding was frozen in the 1980s following a period of mismanagement. However it was able to successfully rebound and grow. A Frida Kahlo exhibit in 2002 brought more attendees than normally visited the museum annually and helped to transform its perception and led to the museum's first non-Puerto Rican Director.