Branigan Cultural Center has been selected to receive a competitive Latino Americans: 500 Years of History grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA).
As one of 203 grant recipients selected from across the country, Branigan Cultural Center will receive a cash grant of $10,000 to hold public programming — such as public film screenings, discussion groups, oral history initiatives, local history exhibitions, multi-media projects or performances — about Latino history and culture.
The Branigan Cultural Center received the six-part, NEH-supported documentary film “Latino Americans,” created for PBS in 2013 by the WETA public television station. The award-winning serieschronicles the history of Latinos in the United States from the 16th century to present day. (Learn more about the series at www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/.) The first showing will be Saturday, September 19 and will run through Saturday, March 19, 2016, excluding December. There will be open discussion panels after each showing with guest speakers. Check our website for updated schedule of programs.
The Branigan Cultural Center is joined by a number of community partners on this grant: the Amador Hotel Foundation, Community Cornerstones Partnerships, La Semilla Food Center, NMSU Museum, and Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, as well as a number of other regional scholars, organizations, and community members.
Among the events and programs to be offered beginning in September 2015 and continuing through summer 2016 are lectures, discussions, book clubs, and community research. A sampling of these offerings includes:
The Cultural Connections Book Club will read books dealing with the cultures and histories of the Southwest starting in September. The club meets the third Wednesday of each month at 2pm.
Reading corners are going to be placed at the BCC, the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library and the NMSU Museum a resource of books, information, and panels related to themes of ”Latino Americans”.
History Note Lecture series, the 2nd Thursday of each month at 1 pm, given by various speakers will focus on Latino American history in the Southwest beginning in 2016.
Learning where your food comes from and how to prepare it will be the topic of a three part “Crop and Cuisine” workshops present by the BCC, La Semilla and Dr. Lois Stanford. The workshops will be February 13, 27; March 12 and May 7, 2016 at 10 am. Participants will plant seeds, learn about regional crops, study Southwestern food traditions, and prepare a meal with key Hispanic New Mexican crops.
Meghan Healy, a PhD candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, will give a lecture on the relationships between ethnic identity, ancestry and culture in New Mexicans of Spanish-speaking descents. The talk is Thursday, March 24, 2016 at the NMSU Museum.
Lectures on two prominent 19th century Latino families, the Amador and Armijo families, will examine their legacies and their ties to the community on Friday, April 15, 2016 at 11:30am. A historic building tour of the Amador Hotel followed by hands-on lectures dealing with Latino and Spanish architectural and environmental influences will be on Saturday, April 16, 2016. Guest lectures for the events are Niña Johnson, Eric Liefeld, Terry Reynolds, and Francisco Uviña.
Oral histories will be taken throughout the year and will be used in our permanent history exhibit, when it reopens. At the conclusion of the series, an outdoor oral history festival tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 21, 2016.
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.