PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Maeve Montalvo, Director of Education at Museum of the City of New York
1:14:57
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4 min
Maeve Montalvo, Director of Education at the Museum of the City of New York, testified about the museum's efforts to support and showcase indigenous arts, culture, and history, particularly focusing on the Lenape people. She highlighted a collaborative project with the Endo Lenape Aking Collective to create an exhibition called "Unseated" that aims to reframe New York City's history through the lens of its original inhabitants.
- The museum is working to integrate Lenape stories, culture, and history into all of its family programming to make it a part of the everyday history of New York City.
- The planned exhibition is expected to reach 150,000 visitors, and the museum's educational programs impact thousands of teachers and students annually.
- Montalvo emphasized the importance of cultural institutions using their resources and platforms to amplify Lenape voices and stories, as many Lenape contributors have full-time jobs outside of this work.
Maeve Montalvo
1:14:57
Honorable members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
1:15:01
My name is Maeve Montalvo, and I'm the director of education at the Museum of the City of New York.
1:15:06
It's good to see you again, mister Vera.
1:15:08
And I'm here to emphasize the importance of supporting the indigenous arts, culture, and history, particularly that of the Lenape people about whom we've been speaking, who are the original inhabitants of this land.
1:15:18
For the past 2 years, the museum, myself, and my colleagues have worked in close partnership with the Endo Lenape Aking Collective, which is a coalition of Lenape leaders, elders, and artists from across Turtle Nation.
1:15:33
Together, we are creating a multiyear project including an exhibition called Unseated that will reframe New York City's history through the lens of its original inhabitants.
1:15:44
This project reflects the diversity and complexity of Lenape voices, including those from diasporic communities as well as those who remain connected to their ancestral homelands and live within the region.
1:15:57
Importantly, the museum and the collective continue to welcome additional Lenape voices to ensure this work reflects the breadth of these experiences.
1:16:06
New York City is a complex place as we all know, and the stories of the Lenape people and who tells them are equally complex.
1:16:13
I have a deep belief in people's ability to hold and appreciate this complexity, and at the museum we are committed to presenting it with all the nuance it deserves.
1:16:23
The exhibition challenges endowment narratives shedding light on Lenape's historical relationships with colonial forces, dispelling myths like the 24 dollar sale of Manhattan about which we've already heard, as well as exploring importantly the continued impact of Lenape land stewardship and cultural practices and a world view that can help us as we look to the sustainability and future of New York City.
1:16:46
Our work at the museum builds on long standing collaborations over many years, including with the American Indian Community House, but it is the work with the Endo Lenapeyakan collectives that I wanna testify on today.
1:16:56
It has been my absolute pleasure and honor to work closely with the collective and the members from who are representatives from 4 different Lenape nations in a growing coalition, working collectively with them to decide the art, the programming, everything that is going into this exhibition and the related programming.
1:17:19
One thing that is unique about this is that we have an opportunity as a Museum of the City of New York to bring these stories to many more individuals that would not necessarily come to or think of coming to a program specifically about the Lenape.
1:17:37
As a part of these efforts, we are reworking our programming and integrating, for example, Lenape stories, culture, history, as well as present day experiences into all of our family programming, so that Lenape stories become a part of the accepted, known, and really just everyday history of New York City.
1:17:57
I know from years of working with New York City teachers and students, as well as many thousands of people, New Yorkers visiting the museum, that the very fact that Lenape people continue to live and exist today is a surprise to many.
1:18:14
Many students are shocked.
1:18:16
And when my when our partner, Brent Stonefish, who will speak as well, joined me this summer in working with and teaching 25 teachers in a program.
1:18:28
They were humbled to be able to hear from him about these experiences, and those 25 teachers collectively this year teach over 3,000 students.
1:18:39
We multiply this by the number of educators over 900 each year that we can work with at the museum.
1:18:46
The exhibition that we are planning will see we anticipate a 150,000 visitors coming through.
1:18:53
The last thing I'd like to share and thank you for the time.
1:18:56
The last thing I'd like to share is we are doing this work with the Endo Lenape akin Collective, which is this, again, coalition of multiple nations of Lenape people.
1:19:05
As the Museum of the City of New York, we have the opportunity to put our time, our resources, and the very physical plant of our building to work for the collective and for the Lenape people.
1:19:18
My friends now, in the collective, they have full time jobs.
1:19:24
They do not do this work as their job.
1:19:27
They are teachers and engineers and civil servants.
1:19:31
And so those of us who do work in the cultural sector, we can use our time, resources, and energy to be able to help them create and amplify the stories that they want to put forward.
1:19:44
And I'm incredibly grateful to be part of this, and thank you for hearing this work.
