Redevelopment Agency Awards the Mexican Museum $250,000 in Grant Funds to Jump Start Plans for a New Home South of Market

The San Francisco Arts Commission will Manage Funds and Collaboratively Develop and Implement a Predevelopment Plan for the Re-launched Museum

August 7, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — On Tuesday, August 4, at a packed public hearing, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to approve $280,000 in funding to provide assistance to the Mexican Museum as it begins predevelopment planning for its new home, located adjacent to Jessie Square in the Yerba Buena Cultural District. The San Francisco Arts Commission will manage the disbursement of $250,000 to the Museum and will retain $30,000 for its fiscal oversight and consulting assistance. The Arts Commission will play a key role in implementing the predevelopment plan, which includes specific performance milestones related to facility planning, fundraising, membership and capacity building of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, and partnerships with other key institutions.

“The City of San Francisco has always taken great pride in its cultural diversity and this renewed support for the Mexican Museum will lay the groundwork for a future world-class museum of Latino and Mexican art, serving as a capstone to the Yerba Buena Cultural District.” said Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Since the early 1990s, the Redevelopment Agency has been working with the Museum toward the development of a new facility. While earlier planning focused on a “stand-alone” building, current efforts are centered on a new mixed-use project that includes 706 Mission Street and consists of a residential tower incorporating both the landmark Mercantile Building and the Museum.

“The Mexican Museum is the final piece of the Redevelopment Agency’s plan for the Yerba Buena Redevelopment District. With the recent changes in the Museum’s Board and the leadership it has demonstrated, we feel that we are now well positioned to move forward with predevelopment planning for this important project,” said Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency Fred Blackwell.

“The collection of the Mexican Museum is of national and international importance and will draw visitors to our City, and the unanimous vote by the Commissioners of the Redevelopment Agency last night demonstrated strong support for re-launching the Museum,” said Luis R. Cancel, Director of Cultural Affairs. “I look forward to working with the new Board leadership of the Mexican Museum to help this organization reach its full potential.”

The Museum had a great show of support, requiring an additional room to handle the overflow. Supporters from San Francisco’s Latino and artists communities delivered compelling testimony in favor of the Mexican Museum. Collectively, they expressed the importance of an institution that reflects and celebrates Latino history and culture in a city that is home to such culturally-specific museums as the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Asian Art Museum and the Museum of the African Diaspora. Their voices were echoed by well-respected community leaders and arts professionals including: Miguel Bustos; former Mexican Museum Executive Director and SFAC Commissioner Lorraine García Nakata; Adriana Williams, the granddaughter of Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles who donated the important Covarrubias Collection to the Museum; former Trustee Jesse Aguirre and Palo Alto Art Center Curator Signe Mayfield.

“The Mexican Museum is elated at the unanimous approval by the San Francisco Redevelopment Commissioners for the release of these funds to give us the impetus to move forward and kick off our revival fundraising, which we’ve appropriately titled the ‘Renacimiento: The Mexican Museum Today’ campaign,” said Mario Diaz, co-chair of the Mexican Museum’s Board of Trustees. “We are proud to continue the vision of Peter Rodriguez, who founded the Museum in 1975, and further its important and dedicated mission.”

The Mexican Museum holds a unique collection of over 12,000 objects, including painting, sculpture, and folk art, representing thousands of years of Mexican art and culture within the Americas. The permanent collection, the Museum’s most important asset and resource, includes five collecting areas: Pre-Conquest; Colonial; Popular; Modern and Contemporary Mexican and Latino; and Chicano Art. The Museum also has an impressive number of rare books and a growing collection of Latin American art.

The Palo Alto Art Center recently announced Treasures from The Mexican Museum: A Spirited Legacy (on view September 26, 2009- April 18, 2010), an exhibition featuring works from the Museum’s collection. The exhibition will provide a much-needed back drop to support the Museum’s fundraising efforts.