Smithsonian Latino Center Honored with Community Service Award by NBC4 and Telemundo44

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, NBC4 and Telemundo44 hosted a special reception on October 4th for Hispanic community leaders at their Washington, D.C. studio. Festivities included food and live entertainment reflective of the culture of Americans whose heritage comes from Mexico or the Spanish-speaking nations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. During the reception, the Smithsonian Latino Center was honored with the Community Service award for its work in preserving and advancing Hispanic arts and culture in the community. Accepting the award on behalf of the Latino Center, Director Eduardo Díaz thanked “all our friends, supporters and colleagues who make our work possible!”

In advance of the award, NBC4 and Telemundo44 interviewed Director Eduardo Díaz and Dr. Taína Caragol, Curator of Latino Art and History at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, as part of a special program celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Díaz and Caragol give viewers exclusive insights into the UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light: Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar exhibition currently at the National Portrait Gallery. On view until January 2019, this exhibition highlights the work of two leading contemporary artists who grapple with the under- and misrepresentation of certain minorities in portraiture and American history. As Caragol explains, “Indigenous, Latinos, African Americans...haven’t received the same historical level of importance.” Díaz takes this idea one step further as he walks around the artworks and reiterates the mission of the Smithsonian Latino Center as “transforming [the] Smithsonian into an institution that welcomes the entire Latino Community...to help our community realize it is their institution.”

While NBC4 aired their special program celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month on October 6th, and Telemundo44 also aired this special program on October 13th, a clip of the special program featuring Díaz and Caragol can be found here.