Saturday, November 20, 2010

Opening a museum ----- again

Didn't this place already celebrate its grand opening?
A downtown museum, which had faced some financial trouble in the past, is celebrating a grand opening with a new exhibit.

The Museo Alameda, which is located in the historic Market Square in downtown San Antonio, was shut down back in August to prepare for the new exhibit.

On Saturday, the museum opened again, showcasing its "Revolution to Renaissance" exhibit.
(from KSAT-12)

Oh, yeah, it did.
But creating a hyphenated museum is not always a smooth enterprise, as can be sensed at the Museo Alameda, which opened here to great fanfare on April 13 [2007].
(from the New York Times)

So, then why the grand opening, revisited? Because the NYT called it three years ago: The going didn't promise to be smooth when the place opened, and nothing's been smooth about the financial operations since. The City of San Antonio even had to step in and take over the maintenance and operations of the place so it wouldn't fold outright, in effect buying a white elephant for all the taxpayers to have and to hold for their very own.

But the powers-that-be are going to do all they can to make sure the museum doesn't go away, that it never closes. So, they hold another grand opening, and they swear things will be different this time.
"We're hoping that this exhibit will encourage everyone to come down here and convince everyone that we have begun a new," said [Chairman of the Board Rolando] Pablos. "This exhibit will be the starting point for many great things to come for this institution and we're hopeful that everyone in town can come look at it."
And the exhibit they're hoping will be the successful rebirth of the Museo Alameda? It's about the Mexican Revolution.

That's a bit strange, given that the museum's mission is to "tell the story of the Latino experience in America through art, history, and culture." [emphasis added]

4 comments:

Sabra said...

I went once, on a Sunday when it was free, and it was pretty boring. There just isn't (wasn't?) that much exhibit space to begin with, & when we were there much of it was unused. The only exhibits I remember were the Celia Cruz retrospective & the huiple exhibit. Not exactly exciting stuff. (But should give you an idea of how long ago it was.)

Anonymous said...

You may be surprised to learn that the USA is not the only America on the planet. You may also be interested in realizing the exhibition is about the Revolution's impact on San Antonio, not just Mexico.

I was at the opening yesterday and the museum is jam-packed with artifacts. There's no unused space with this show.

Albatross said...

You may be surprised to learn that the USA is not the only America on the planet.

It's not the only "America", but it is the only one that consistently refers to itself as America and its citizens as Americans, so the reference in the mission is pretty obvious.

And when the Museo Alameda said this about last year's exhibits ...

In 2009, the Museo will focus on the American Dream.

... you can bet your sweet patootie that they weren't talking about any other nation besides the USA.

And you would win.

Anonymous said...

Closed yet again. I just went to a Current sponsored event: "Cocktail - the Event" in that particular building.

I believe the building has been renamed Casa Rosa. Not sure if privately owned or not, but appears to be an arts gallery place to be rented out.