SAN ANTONIO — A newly awarded $650,000 national grant represents the first brushstrokes in the creation of a new position focused on spotlighting Latinx artists at San Antonio's McNay Art Museum.
The McNay was one of 19 arts organizations – and the only one in Texas – to receive money from the recently created Leadership in Arts Museums (LAM) initiative, according to a press release.
McNay Director Matthew McLendon, who took over the role in February, said the museum's selection "is in response to the work we are focusing on under our current strategic plan to become San Antonio's place of belonging."
"The curator will help ensure that we are prioritizing the representation and voices of the communities we serve here in San Antonio and the surrounding region," McLendon said, "as well as amplifying these voices for the many visitors to our museum who are coming from other parts of the country and the world."
The grant is meant to support the position over a period of five years, but McLendon said his team will work to ensure it's a permanent role beyond that window. He told KENS 5 the museum hopes to have the position filled by late summer or early fall.
The LAM initiative, whose creation was announced Wednesday, works to further the mission of racial equity at institutions like the north-side museum. LAM officials said each of the 19 grant recipients pledged to "develop a diverse pool of applicants" as they work to fill their respective positions.
Among the other organizations to receive grant money from LAM are the Portland Art Museum, Museum of the City of New York and Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.
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