New Americans Museum At Liberty Station Reopens

Maureen Cavanaugh: This is KPBS Midday Edition, I am Maureen Cavanaugh. The reopening of a San Diego Museum celebrating the contributions of immigrants will take place this Saturday in the Liberty Station's Arts & Cultural District. The new Americans Museum was forced to shut its doors about five years ago. Now, Museum founder Deborah Szekely says the New Americans Museum is back with a lineup of engaging new programs and thought-provoking exhibits. Joining me to talk about what’s coming up is Deborah Szekely, founder of the New Americans Museum. Ms. Szekely is also a founder of Golden Door Spa and Rancho La Puerta. Deborah, it’s wonderful to see you. Thank you for coming in. Deborah Szekely: Thank you, thank you. Maureen Cavanaugh: Linda Caballero Sotelo is Executive Director of the New Americans Museum. Linda thank you for coming in. Linda Caballero Sotelo: Thank you for having us. Maureen Cavanaugh: Deborah, when did you first come up with an idea for a museum that’s dedicated to the immigrant experience? Deborah Szekely: Well, I started thinking about you know there’s a lot you’ve started thinking and you play with an idea. I did almost 10 years or more ago. It’s working with the young people who don’t appreciate the country they come from. But in some way or other it’s important to give them that strength of family of connection and I wanted them to understand that they come over as young or the newborn here, but that connection and I thought it was very important and art being a universal language that they should get to know in a way of getting to appreciate who they are as people. Maureen Cavanaugh: How was the New Americans Museum received when it first opened back in 2001? Deborah Szekely: Well, we had 10,000 people in the first year. We did pretty well; in fact we did very well. Maureen Cavanaugh: Why did it close back in 2009? Deborah Szekely: Well, I went to the people who had been supporting us. All these non-profits are supported by people who believe in causes. And I went to them and they said Deborah you know there’s so much hunger right now and there’s so much homeless right now, it’s really not a good time. So when your leading supporters say I really believe in and I am very, very sorry, you know I am sorry get down on your knees and beg. And it was true; I mean the economy was that bad. Maureen Cavanaugh: Did you expect it to reopen? Deborah Szekely: Yes. No, it was always a hiatus. It was never intended to close. We kept all the files carefully in my garage waiting for the day we can take it from my garage and put them back. Maureen Cavanaugh: This is being built as the reawakening of the New Americans Museum. Deborah Szekely: That’s brilliant, Linda’s term. Maureen Cavanaugh: Well, then let me ask you then Linda. How is this reawakened museum a little bit different from the museum that first opened up in 2001? Linda Caballero Sotelo: Well, in addition to the different new leadership as well that brings a whole set of experiences and work not only in the arts but in art institutions. One of the things that’s fundamentally different is the focus on curated exhibitions that both incorporate commission works but also more historical context works. Another element that is also important to us is the integration of new technologies and digital media into the work that we do throughout which frankly even a few years ago wasn’t there or if it was, it was very expensive. So now we have ways of integrating that in a way that will be interactive and meaningful for visitors. Maureen Cavanaugh: So it’s more accessible in a sense. Linda Caballero Sotelo: Definitely more accessible and we want and that is really a cornerstone of our work to be inclusive and accessible. We don’t have a traditional museum if you will in terms of the layout and the offering. We don’t collect objects, we collect narratives and stories and testimonials and so we want our audiences as diverse as they are to be able to feel included and have an experience that they can access even from home before they come. Maureen Cavanaugh: Linda, tell us about the exhibition that’s kicking off, the reopening of the New Americans Museum. Linda Caballero Sotelo: It’s very exciting for us. Narratives of resilience, reimaging homeland or imagining homeland because it’s a combination of two exhibitions that both feature a collection of tapestries that Deborah is lending to our museum on view for the first time. They’ve been stored away for over 30 years and there are so many aspects of that story that will be really interesting for the audience but we have the opportunity and had the opportunity to bring them to life again. And for us as we looked at these incredible tapestries by a community in a town outside of Bogota, 12 of them in a series, we looked at them and said what happened to these people, what happened to this town. Our museum is about universal themes and connections and we wanted to know so we went ahead and found out. Maureen Cavanaugh: Deborah, how did you acquire these tapestries to begin with? Deborah Szekely: I was president of the New American Foundation for six years and over half that time and we worked throughout Latin American and the independent Caribbean. This actually was my very first trip as the new president, coming from San Diego and the staff is sort of all very suspicious of her etc., etc. Anyhow, so I went and I saw some of the pieces in Colombia not too far from the presidential palaces small little crack shop. I saw them. I thought how wonderful. And they said, since I was interested they said that was just three or four miles away you can go and see, meet the weavers and see and some of them are being worked on right now. And each one is telling a different part of the story you know to which they’ve coordinated different part of their history of this settlement which the Mexicans call a toma posesión, where they take property that isn’t theirs and settle down as a group. And we have that in Tijuana and we have that too at Mexico. So I was particularly interested in this toma posesión. So I went there and figured out how many they were. They were going to sell them individually but they tell a story. So I said I will buy the whole set. There were two pieces not quite finished that they delivered to my hotel the next day. I bought the set not knowing what I was going to do with. It wasn’t a great deal of money for me, it was $2,000 for the whole thing, but the staff at the American Foundation had a fit, you’re depriving all these families from having pleasure of having one piece. I said but it’s a story. Maureen Cavanaugh: But it’s a story and that story is going to be told at the opening of the new Americans Museum. Deborah Szekely: And sung, one of the ladies sings the story. I mean she’s got just a typical Latina voice, I mean not a great voice, but from the iPhone she sung the story and we’ve got to broadcast you know have that – Maureen Cavanaugh: That’s part of the exhibit. Linda Caballero Sotelo: It’s part of the exhibit. Maureen Cavanaugh: And I was also going to ask about another part of the exhibit. It’s a featuring work by Los Angeles Artist Carolyn Castaño. Linda, tell us a little bit about her. Linda Caballero Sotelo: Very excited about her participation as a complimentary but separate exhibition. The next part of our consideration for this opening exhibition was what is the contemporary story in the connection to New Americans and the US and we said why don’t we find that out as well, right, and part of that was looking and engaging a curator and inviting a Colombian-American artist. Carolyn Castaño came to us and in a wonderful way because we realized that she had just finished fellowship in Colombia not too long ago and she had connected with women in a cooperative and in a town outside of Medellin where she saw the energy that Deborah saw many years before. So we commissioned work by her. She is a visual artist who works in light and video and installation. She was really struck by the tapestries in the connection of her parents as Colombian-American who came to Los Angeles around the time that these were produced. Maureen Cavanaugh: Anything that really sort of jumps out about the programs coming up for the rest of the year, Linda? Linda Caballero Sotelo: Certainly, we will have four exhibitions throughout the year about quarterly. For this opening exhibition there will be artist talk and curatorial talks as well. They will invite the public too. There are other exhibitions that we love to share with the public. They can certainly visit our website which is newamericansmuseum.org. Get more details there, complex and beautiful and engaging and we will love to hear from the public how they can both volunteer, it’s possible, and also just give us feedback. Deborah Szekely: And we have a lot of children’s program. We have school buses lined up; even before we open we have 12 different schools who’ve asked to come. And we have special programs that the children adaptations. And the biggest difference between before and now is that all these now we create, before we brought in shows from Boston and San Antonio and different things. These are all our own creation. We have Linda who is very creative and Leticia Gomez and all these people are so excited because they are creating art, they are creating living art. It’s fantastic. Maureen Cavanaugh: You’ve curated, you founded this museum that celebrates immigration, that celebrates the new Americans and there are so much – the immigration issue is still such a polarizing issue in so many ways. I am wondering Deborah what you think about this just today debate going on in Washington and rolling back some of the executive orders that the president has directed towards immigration reform. What is your impression, where does that fit in with the concept of this celebratory museum? Deborah Szekely: I don’t think it fits in with any intelligent person’s thinking. There is no way to conceive. Their whole thing is anything against Obama, they are going to use anything. They are not using any long range thinking. They are not thinking that our country was based on immigration that everybody except for the native Americans are immigrant origin if not immigrant themselves. They are not looking at any big picture. They look at today as day old by itself and thinking that the no connectedness, no relation, I mean it’s horrifying. Maureen Cavanaugh: So, the reopening of the museum in a sense sort of a political act? Deborah Szekely: Yeah. Anything we do, anything affirmative action is a political act. Siting on your hands is not. Maureen Cavanaugh: Let me ask you Linda, what is the reopening party for the museum going to be like? Linda Caballero Sotelo: Incredible. Everyone has to come, 6:00 to 8:00 PM this Friday. We will have a wonderful food from Colombia and bands and the opportunity to see the exhibition. It will continue on until March. We will be open Saturday and Sunday and we are just delighted that San Diego is opening its heart and its doors for us again. Maureen Cavanaugh: Tell us again how to find the New Americans Museum in the Liberty Station Complex. Linda Caballero Sotelo: So, I am still trying to find it myself these days but we are going to work on the signage even more. It’s not that difficult to find. Nowadays we are on Dewey and Historic Decatur Road. We will have plenty of signs for the public and again we look to see everyone there. Maureen Cavanaugh: I appreciate both of you coming in and talking about this. I have been speaking with Deborah Szekely, among many things founder of the New Americans Museum, and Linda Caballero Sotelo, Executive Director of the Museum. Thank you so much. Linda Caballero Sotelo: Thank you. Maureen Cavanaugh: Be sure to watch KPBS Evening Edition at 05:00 and again at 06:30 tonight on KPBS television. And join us again tomorrow for discussions on Midday Edition at noon right here on KPBS FM. I am Maureen Cavanaugh and thank you for listening.