National Musuem of the American Latino - Bisma Jhamat, Week 1

National Musuem of the American Latino - Bisma Jhamat, Week 1

                                                  Week One and Done!

Hi everyone,

    Today marks my first official week working at the museum! I've had the privilege of working as an intern at the National Muesum of American Latino (NMAL) helping facilitate the GM Learning Lounge and Molina Family Latino Gallery (which all of you should be familiar with because of Washington Week 🙂!)

    I started my week off by getting a run-through of the GM Learning Lounge such as where all the materials are as well as an introduction to all the activities we provide for workshops and different program groups that come in. Additionally, I got a more in-depth explanation of the Gallery and what each section has to offer. Did you know on the NMAL website we provide a full 360 Self-Guided Virtual Tour and Interactive Map of the Molina Family Latino Gallery? Pretty cool if I say so myself!

 

   On Wednesday, I assisted Jorge on creating an activity to be presented at the Todo Sonido Festival this weekend. NMAL is providing an opportunity to create a 3-D shoe inspired by the one and only Queen of Salsa herself, Celia Cruz! During this activity, participates are able to cut out their own Celia Cruz shoe and decorate it however they would like. This event is at the Wolf Trap which is a performing arts center for festivals such as Todo Sonido (p.s you may have seen this promoted on our Instagram page recently!) Even though Salsa is not a Caribbean music genre, this activity remined me of the Afro-Caribbean Rhythms Workshop we all did with Mr. Garay during Washington Week! 

   

     On Thursday, I was tasked with creating a new workshop activity to be presented during Hispanic Heritage Month. My goal was to create a lowrider car out of reuseable materials inspired by Mexican American youth culture in the post WW2 era. The only issue is lowrider cars are known for being able to move up and down due to their interior hydraulic systems, so I had to think of a mechanism to display this. But not to fret, I was able to create a prototype and come up with a solution! Stay tuned for next week's blog post for more details 😉. 

   

 In order to get inspo for my lowrider car, I stopped by the museum's SparkLab! where, to my surprise, I discovered they were simultaneously making their own lowrider car using 3D printed materials! Crazy timing, am I right? I decided to analyze their configuration system and even sneaked in a selfie! I believe it is so important to increase awareness of the vast amount of job fields that are present in today's world, and the through Smithsonian's SparkLab! youth, such as I, are exposed to exciting new career fields. 

    Quick flick of my lunch at the Jazz Cafe! It was so good; highly recommend getting the grilled cheese if you stop by! #bestgrilledcheesetodate

    Lastly, when I am not answering questions about the exhibit, or playing Bananagrams in the GM Learning Lounge with visitors, I have an online assignment of updating the Smithsonian Learning Labs for NMAL. Learning Labs is an online, interactive, educational platform for students, teachers, and the public to use as an educational resource. Smithsonian Latino Museum has not updated its collection in a few years, so it's my job to go through them and see if they still align with the museum's mission and content focus. There are about 60+ collections I need to go through, so it's definitely keeping me busy!

    Anyways, that's a wrap on Week One and Done! I will see you all next Friday for an update. Make sure to turn on post notifications and subscribe down below for more amazing and awesome content, adios😃!

- Bisma J.