The Smithsonian Latino Center has announced a $1 million gift from Bank of America to support the opening of the Molina Family Latino Gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The gift establishes Bank of America as one of the first corporate benefactors to support the Latino Gallery.

“The Latino Center and Bank of America both value the preservation of culture,” said Eduardo Díaz, director of the Smithsonian Latino Center. “This is why we’re honored to have Bank of America as a grand-opening sponsor.”

As the nation’s gallery dedicated to celebrating the U.S. Latino experience, the Molina Family Latino Gallery will present stories of discovery, identity, migration, innovation, entrepreneurship and success to millions of diverse, intergenerational audiences. The 4,500-square-foot gallery is scheduled to open in 2022, coinciding with the Smithsonian Latino Center’s 25th anniversary.

“America’s history has been written in part by the many contributions of Latinos and their heritage,” said Larry Di Rita, Washington DC Market President for Bank of America.  “The Molina Family Latino Gallery will help tell that story for the first time on America’s town square, at the Smithsonian Institution on the Capitol Mall. We’re proud to be part of that.”

For more than three decades, Bank of America has supported Smithsonian museums and cultural initiatives, including:

• In June 2020, Bank of America committed $25 million to the Smithsonian to help launch “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past.”  The initiative draws upon expertise and collections from across the Smithsonian to examine how Americans understand and experience race, and explores how to build a more inclusive future. Using multiple platforms for dialogue and engagement, Our Shared Future examines the historical roots and contemporary impacts of systematic racism with a goal of uniting and healing for a more equitable future.
• Bank of America is a founding donor of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and CEO Brian Moynihan sits on the board of directors. In 2019, the company joined the newly-formed Corporate Leadership Council and was recognized for its continued commitment to the NMAAHC, through the naming of the Special Exhibitions Gallery. Bank of America also donated 61 works from Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe’s Daufuskie Island photography collection to the museum.
• Bank of America is the sole corporate partner of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), which seeks to protect cultural heritage threatened or impacted by armed conflicts or natural disasters.
•  Through its global Art Conservation Project, Bank of America has provided grants to the following Smithsonian institutions to help conserve historically or culturally significant works of art :
  • 2018 – Freer Gallery of Art
  • 2017 – Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • 2014 – National Portrait Gallery
  • 2014 – National Museum of African American History and Culture

    

The Smithsonian Latino Center preserves Latino history and culture, engaging Latino communities and advancing Latino representation in the United States. Since 1997, the center has successfully ensured that the contributions of the Latino community are celebrated and represented throughout the Smithsonian Institution.
For more information, visit www.latino.si.edu.