American Latino museums across the United States play an integral role in preserving and promoting the diversity of American Latino life, art, history, and culture. Recognizing this role, in 2020 Congress enacted legislation to establish a new American Latino History and Culture (ALHC) program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The program will use grantmaking to build the capacity of American Latino museums and educational organizations to promote the study and appreciation of American Latino life, art, history, culture, and their impact on US society and to strengthen, sustain, and grow the field.

IMLS contracted with the Urban Institute to conduct field research and planning activities to inform the development of the ALHC program. The Urban team’s work included a review of more than 250 pieces of literature in English, Spanish, and Portuguese; an environmental scan of 30 directories and databases to map the American Latino museum field; two community listening sessions, one in English and one in Spanish, with 49 total attendees; an online survey in English and Spanish that received 74 responses from potential ALHC program applicants; and interviews in English and Spanish with 40 stakeholders, collaborators, and funders.

This report summarizes our findings, presenting evidence and highlighting recommendations to IMLS to inform the design of the ALHC program. Our research identified 270 active museums that are either institutionally focused or have hosted federally supported exhibits on issues of American Latino art, history, and culture. We also examined implications for the 571 Hispanic-serving institutions of higher education and 401 emerging HSIs in the United States. 

Several themes repeatedly emerge across findings, elevating the need for the ALHC program to support diversity, inclusion, community, equity, collaboration, authenticity, accessibility, and sustainability for American Latino museums across the United States. While IMLS already does much of this work through existing programs, some of the report’s key recommendations will help IMLS do this work most effectively in support of the American Latino museum field specifically. Those recommendations include the following:

• Incorporate flexibility in eligibility criteria to acknowledge the varying operational structures of American Latino museums, many of which occupy community spaces.
• Ensure the application process accommodates the more limited capacity and goals of smaller and newer American Latino institutions.
• Include intensive outreach to expand the ALHC program’s reach in the American Latino museum field.
• Offer strategic planning and/or seed funding to support the capacity-building needs of the many smaller American Latino museums.
• Increase awareness, the availability, and the cultural responsiveness of IMLS’s technical assistance to make the application process more equitable, including by offering Spanish-language materials.
• Elevate multiple opportunities for connection, partnership, and collaboration among potential ALHC program applicants to empower and grow the American Latino museum field.
• Build flexibility into reporting requirements, both to incorporate the range of potential impacts and to acknowledge the ways in which goals can emerge throughout the grant lifecycle.

The overarching aim of these recommendations and this report is to help IMLS build on its existing outreach and support efforts in a way that best supports the American Latino museum field and its role in promoting the diversity of American Latino experiences and cultural equity across US communities.