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Meet a Member: Fireside Chat with Yolanda Alcorta
February 24, 2024
Yolanda Alcorta is a longtime Board member of the Friends of the Ixchel Museum (FIOM). Her interest in Maya textiles began forty years ago in her family’s home country of Guatemala. Using her own collection and the FOIM collection she has curated Maya textile exhibits at Longwood Gardens, Taller Puertorriqueño, the Morris Arboretum and WheatonArts. She has a Master of Arts in Teaching in Museum Education from George Washington University, and a Master of Science in Biology/Botany, from the University of Michigan. She began her work as a museum educator at the Mexican Museum in San Francisco where she established the Education Department when the museum opened in 1975. In 1992 in Philadelphia, she co-founded Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas—Latin American Cultural Roots – now a respected Latino/e/x cultural organization building cultural corridors in the US mid-Atlantic region . As Executive Director of Raíces she worked closely for 16 years with the Latino community in Philadelphia and developed numerous education-centered programs on Maya textiles and traditions as well as integrated Latin-American cultural programs. One of her many current projects is the formation of a women’s weaving cooperative, “Weaving for the Future”, sponsored by FOIM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.
Currently, Yolanda resides in Washington, DC and continues her work with the Latino/e/x community in DC with expanded Raíces’ programs by creating actual and virtual cultural corridors between Philadelphia and Washington artists and audiences.
As the President and founder of Alcorta Connections, Yolanda is a bilingual consultant to museums and the non-profit community. Her work includes the development and production of educational activities and entertaining presentations about Latino/e/x culture that include art projects, folkloric dance and music shows and interactive exhibits. These projects are jointly developed by working closely with staff at museums, community organizations, government agencies and libraries.

The video recording of this Fireside Chat is available to logged-in WARP members only.
