NHCC to Receive $50K in NEA CARES Act Funding, Create Educator Position

July 10th, 2020

ALBUQUERQUE – The National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to receive $50,000 in direct funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC), a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. 

These grants are non-matching and are to be used to support staff salaries, fees for artists or contractual personnel, and facilities costs. Specifically, the NHCC will use the funds to hire an educator on a contractual basis for 12 months. 

“Because we applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts – Literature, the focus of the work will be on literary programming,” stated Valerie Martínez, Director of History and Literary Arts at the NHCC.

The role will help create a curriculum that is consistent to the NHCC’s mission by developing activities and lesson plans, selecting textbooks and other materials, training teachers, and assessing educational programs for quality and adherence to regulations and standards. They will also assist with introducing new technology in physical and virtual classroom settings, including what is now required under state health regulations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The educator will be instrumental in supporting the Children’s Bilingual Book Festival, Un Poema: Tantas Voces translation project, Voces Summer Writing Institute for Teens, and the National Latinx Writers Conference, as well as other educational programs. Click here for a link to the job announcement.

“We are delighted the CARES Act addressed educational needs. During these times when parents have become teachers and teachers are heroically adapting their curricula and techniques to continue to educate the youth, the funding of an educational position for the NHCC is more important than ever,” said NHCC Executive Director Josefa González Mariscal. “While the NHCC campus remains closed to the public, the staff continues to work on reaching out to the community with virtual educational content and developing educational curricula for educators to use in the fields of literary arts and history.” 

“This mission-oriented educational work is vital for the learning of a richly diverse student body,” continued González Mariscal. “It strengthens identity and self-worth to the Hispanic/Latinx children; it also helps opens the eyes of those students less familiar with Hispanic culture, affording them an opportunity to get to know it and appreciate it. In this way, the NHCC educators help plant the seeds for a community that is harmonious and accepting of each other.”

The NEA recommended 855 arts organizations in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to receive a total of $44.5 million in funding. The NHCC was one of 11 grantees in New Mexico, totaling $550,000 in funding, and was the only state cultural institution to have been awarded such a grant.

About the National Hispanic Cultural Center
The National Hispanic Cultural Center is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts and humanities. The Center presents mission related events throughout the year, some produced by its history, literary, performing and visual arts programs, and others by partnering with external organizations. Events take place at its 20-plus-acre campus, which includes a plaza, an art museum, a historic designated building, a library, and genealogy center. The Center is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is further supported by the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation. 

About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. For more information, visit www.arts.gov.

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