After 100 years of waiting, a Latino Museum is proposed for St. Paul

A coalition of Minnesota Latino organizations called the Minnesota Latino Leadership Alliance held a press conference at the capitol Jan. 14. The group was advocating for initiatives for the upcoming legislative session, one of which is the proposed Minnesota Latino Museum, which would be a center for Latino arts, culture and heritage.

“We are looking to build the first museum that is focused on the Latino community in the upper Midwest,” executive director Aaron Johnson-Ortiz said.

The museum, which has existed as an organization for several years, has launched a $20 million capital campaign to build and operate a physical space. The proposed location is the West Side Flats area of Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul.

“Since at least 1928 there’s a historical record of people on the West Side wanting a Mexican and Latino Cultural Center,” Johnson-Ortiz said. “So this request goes back at least 100 years, and so we know that this work has been ongoing from multiple generations.”

Jessica Lopez Lyman, an assistant professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota and a longtime advocate for the museum, also spoke. 

“We are excited for this museum to serve our entire state, to be a space to display, learn, teach and exchange ideas about our arts and culture,” Lopez Lyman said. She added that the museum would be in the historic St. Paul neighborhood “where the first Mexican immigrants established a barrio over a century ago, and later Chicano, Puerto Rican Boricua and other Latine people migrated to build community.”

Lopez Lyman said that the museum has been a dream of hers since she was a kid, noting, however, that the community seeded the idea long before she was born, pointing to Luis Garzón, the first Latino person to permanently relocate to Minnesota in 1886.

Garzón, who is now buried in the Minneapolis Lakewood Cemetery, was an artist and musician who lived in the West Side Flats.

“He created a store that functioned as a community center. People came to not only purchase dulces or ingredients they couldn’t find anywhere else,” Lopez said, “But they also came for convivencia, to feel connected, to coexist with others after a long day on the railroad or working in the fields or cleaning houses. Garzón’s space, due to the people who interacted with it, became a space for arts and culture.”

Johnson-Ortiz said the museum efforts began around 2015 with the local artist group (Neo)Muralismos de México. They have hosted mural and art-making events and workshops around the state, from Duluth to Worthington.

The museum building “is something that will likely take a couple years to develop, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be doing activities and exhibits and public art,” said Johnson-Ortiz. 

In 2022, the museum group led the creation of the State Capitol’s first-ever ofrenda, or a traditional altar for the Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos. He said this prompted Gov. Tim Walz to officially recognize Day of the Dead in Minnesota. Johnson-Ortiz, who is also a co-founder of the national group Mexican Cultural Arts Alliance, said that Minnesota is likely the first state to have done this.

Johnson-Ortiz predicts if they meet their fundraising goals, the museum will open in 2029.

In October 2023, Minnesota Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, stated her support for the museum at a press conference for National Latinx Heritage Month. 

“Latino artists have made significant contributions to Minnesota’s art and culture, but their work is often underrepresented in museums and galleries,” Pérez-Vega said in a statement. “We must establish Minnesota’s first Museum of Latino Arts to fill this gap and give Latino artists the recognition they deserve. Pa’Lante siempre!” 

In January 2024, Pérez-Vega sponsored a bill that would earmark $10 million to acquire property, design and construct the museum. Johnson-Ortiz said the museum secured $6.425 million in the proposed 2024 infrastructure package, but the bill failed to pass.

He expects the museum bill will be reintroduced this session once the power struggle in the Legislature between Republicans and Democrats is resolved.

Johnson-Ortiz, who is also an artist and muralist, said there are approximately 25 Latino-focused museums in the U.S. At last count in 2014, the Institute of Museum and Library Services estimated that there are 35,000 active museums in the U.S.  

According to census data, the Latino population is Minnesota’s third-largest demographic group. It has grown by more than 200,000 people in the last 25 years. 

“We feel that we’re not just behind in terms of culture representation, but radically behind,” said Johnson-Ortiz. “We’re behind the white community, and behind most communities of color in the United States. We feel that it’s time now to give voice to this, to tell our stories and to be part of the broader conversation in Minnesota about arts and culture, about history and how we fit in as a community with the broader society.”

In February, the museum will announce its most ambitious programming yet, a months-long public art exhibition along the Mississippi in St. Paul.

Correction (Jan. 22, 2025): An earlier version of this story misidentified Jessica Lopez Lyman. The story has been updated.