Exciting News!
We are thrilled and honored to announce that the 2024 Annual Institute will be held at the prestigious
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens!
Join us at this iconic venue, where world-class art, stunning gardens, and groundbreaking research come together to create an inspiring and unforgettable experience. We can’t wait to welcome you to this incredible new location!
Statement of Solidarity & Support
In light of recent events and out of deep compassion for the students and faculty involved in the Pro-Palestine encampments and the UCLA community as a whole, MESC stands in solidarity and support.
As a gesture of understanding and respect, the MESC Board has decided to relocate the 2024 Annual Institute from the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
We are working diligently to secure a new venue, and we will announce the updated location shortly. (If a location change affects your ability to attend the Institute, please be in touch with us at info@mesconline.org.)
Our commitment to fostering an inclusive environment that centers on equity remains unwavering, and we extend our heartfelt support to all those affected. As an organization that supports education, transparency, community, inclusivity, & solidarity, we support the right for students to protest.
CENTERING DIVERSE VOICES, SHAPING EQUITY
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Monday, June 17th 9am-3pm
Join MESC on June 17, 2024, as we center BIPOC perspectives on the current shape of racial equity in the field of museum education. What are the recent successes the field has made concerning equity work, and what are the challenges still facing the field? How do we create sustainable career support for BIPOC Educators? How do we extend inclusive actions to our visitors and reevaluate our institutions’ goals?
Come together with us for a day of community-building, discussion, reflection, and art-making as we consider each of our roles in shaping the future of equity in museum education.
Admission includes breakfast, lunch, and access to keynotes, breakout rooms, and museum exhibits.
You don’t want to miss all that the 2024 Annual Institute has in store!
SCHEDULE
9 AM: Doors Open
9 AM - 10 AM: Breakfast & Networking
10 AM - 10:30 AM: Land Acknowledgement & Welcome
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM: Keynote Panel
11:35 AM - 11:45 AM: Bio Break
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM: Keynote Debrief Sessions
12:30 PM - 2 PM: Lunch, Activities & Open Galleries
2 PM - 3 PM: Breakout Sessions
3 PM - 3:15 PM: Goodbye
3:30 PM: Open Galleries
4 PM: Happy Hour
KEYNOTE
Join Chelo Montoya (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and Helen Alonzo Hurtado (Las Fotos Project) as they reflect on the equity and advocacy work they’ve done in museum education and arts nonprofits. They will discuss internal initiatives addressing equity for staff, external goals in creating welcoming spaces for visitors, and the pivotal role of centering diverse voices in nurturing an inclusive field.
Chelo Montoya
Assistant VP of Public Programming
LACMA
(she / her)
Educator, event producer, and creative specializing in community engagement, with over 17 years of experience in the arts, including seven in museum leadership. Currently, she serves as Assistant Vice President of Public Programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In this role, she oversees public programs, music, film, the docent program, and community engagement. She recently completed a four-year term as an appointee to the California Arts Council, where she held the position of Chair. Additionally, she is an emeritus board member of the Vincent Price Art Museum, contributing over eight years of service.
Helen Alonzo Hurtado
Social Enterprise Director
Las Fotos Project
(she / her / ella)
Blending her commitment to youth development with a focus on financially sustainable nonprofit ventures. She directs the creative aspects of the social enterprise, overseeing the CEO program connecting students to mentors, photo education courses, and paid opportunities, preparing them for careers in the creative industry. Before this role, Helen worked as an Associate Educator at the Skirball Cultural Center and participated in the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship program. She holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from USC and a Bachelor's in Sociology from UCLA.
BREAKOUTS
BIPOC Space for Museum Educators
Join us in a BIPOC affinity space for open-forum discussions about topics such as DEAI work in museums, unionization, CRT, and language justice. This breakout session will be hosted by Janet Lee, one of the co-managers of the VTS + NAEA BIPOC Space for Museum Educators, a monthly online affinity space created in collaboration between Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) and the Museum Division of the National Art Education Association (NAEA). Our aim is to create a safe and inclusive space with fellow museum educator colleagues who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Color) to network, support, and uplift one another.
Janet Lee
Arts Educator
MOCA & Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)
(she/they)
Artist/arts educator born and raised in Los Angeles (unceded lands of the Tongva). Currently, Janet works at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA) and facilitates tours for 3rd through 12th-grade students using the inquiry-based teaching method, Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). Prior to working with students in contemporary art, they spent time excavating Etruscan sites in Tuscany/Lazio as well as aiding in translation work for the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Roma (MACRO). Noticing countless meaningful connections between varying arts disciplines, languages, and cultures in both ancient and contemporary times affirms their strong belief in the transformative and transcultural power of art as an agent for positive change. Janet studied and received their degree in Art History with an emphasis on pre-Greco-Roman archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley (BA). In their free time, Janet enjoys creating art and playing traditional Korean drums (Pungmul).
Building Community Care Values into Practice
The antithesis to a white supremacy culture, Natalie Bui (SHIFT) and Veline Mojarro (SHIFT) share how a work culture rooted in Community Care can transform your relationship in and out of the workplace. We will share SHIFT’s Community Care Values of “living outside the binary” and “mutual accountability,” and more. We discuss the practical ways from shared experience that we have seen or implemented workplace practices rooted in care that can center more accountability, balance, and efficiency in the workplace. Through this, we are reminded that we keep us safe, we keep us accountable, and explore ways we can foster a work environment rooted in mutual respect, security, and safety.
Natalie Bui
Co-Founder
Shift Consulting
(she / her)
A first-generation, Vietnamese American, Natalie comes with a background in policy and organizing. She's previously worked on voter education at Planned Parenthood, immigrant rights at the ACLU of San Diego, and policy advocacy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles.
As a co-founder of SHIFT: Sexual Harassment Prevention, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion consulting and training group, she has spearheaded initiatives that redefine workplace culture and foster care and belonging. With her on-the-ground experience working directly with nonprofits & foundations - Natalie connects the necessity to understand systems, structures, and histories as they relate to our unique identities and how they shape the act of solidarity and inclusion for our movements today.
Veline Mojarro
Co-Founder
Shift Consulting
(she/her/ella)
Educator, facilitator, and advocate for reproductive justice, Veline hails from Los Angeles, California, the unceded land of the Gabrielino Tongva people. Raised with the spirit of the Chicano Movement, her foundation is rooted in the transformative power of art for social change, community organizing, and anti-racist principles.
As a co-founder of SHIFT: Sexual Harassment Prevention, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion consulting and training group, she has spearheaded initiatives that redefine workplace culture and foster care and belonging. Her past role as the Director of Equity, Safety, and Inclusion for everyone, a Goldenvoice project dedicated to eradicating harassment at Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals, was rooted in abolitionist praxis. It engaged at the intersection of prevention, education, and mental health services to create safer spaces for all.
Before her formal engagement in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, Veline shared her expertise as a Lecturer in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA. There, she also served as the Director of Community Programs for the UCLA Art and Global Health Center, leading project AMP! A reproductive justice theater art program for LAUSD high school students and UCLA undergraduates. Additionally, she piloted the first-ever iteration of the AMP! program in Mexico City, Mexico. As the Director of Community Programs, she performed and then eventually directed the new UCLA Student Orientation for all 8,000 incoming undergraduate students where she directed a cast of 60+ UCLA students and Alumni in building a show addressing social issues through their own stories and art mediums.
2024 Annual Institute Resident Artist
Danila Cervantes
Artist & Educator
2024 Annual Institute Resident Artist
(they / them)
Queer Latinx interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. They grew up on the border bouncing between Calexico and Mexicali in Baja California, Mexico. Its vast desert and mixed cultural landscape have always inspired their artwork. Personal myths and Mexican folk tales spark colorful imagery that they translate into illustrations and animations of tender creatures adapting to natures cycles of life, death, and rebirth. They graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design where they studied film and animation. Their creative background and experience in visual arts inform their approach to education, fostering curiosity and love for creativity. With a deep belief in the power of art to heal and transform, they strive to create meaningful experiences that empower individuals to explore their artistic potential and embrace joy through self-expression. They work as a teaching artist with various nonprofit arts organizations across LA such as Barnsdall Junior Art Center, Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and Craft Contemporary.
Danila has created a custom linocut print based on the 2024 Annual Institute theme, “Centering Diverse Voices, Shaping Equity.”
Every Annual Institute attendee will receive a custom printed canvas tote and postcard.
Volunteer!
A scholarship ticket to the Annual Institute will include:
Morning refreshments and lunch.
Admittance to the keynote address.
Admittance to and participation in breakout sessions.
Supporting additional day-of duties through a volunteer shift.