Kevin Cabrera is on a mission to merge local history and public art at Prince George’s County Museums

" Art is an amazing way to tell stories — and to engage communities that might not be interested in history," said Cabrera.

The Maryland National Capital Park And Planning Commission has decided to merge history and art at historic sites in Prince George’s County.  

Kevin Cabrera, assistant division chief for the Natural and Historic Resource Division at MNCPPC, and his team are overseeing these projects. Cabrera (who is Latinx and spearheaded the Latinas Aviation Global Festival)  steers the county’s five historic house museums, The College Park Aviation Museum the Sankofa Mobile Museum, and two county-wide programs: archaeology and paleontology, and its Black history programs. 

However, before adding public art, directors of the historic sites will host community forums. These forums will provide a space for museums to directly hear from community members. The first forum was held yesterday in North County. The next forum will be held at the Surratt House Museum, on Oct. 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. at 9118 Brandywine Rd, Clinton, Maryland.

The Intersection spoke with Cabrera about the upcoming public meetings, the importance of public art, and the organization's goals.

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The Intersection (T.I.): Tell me about combining public art with history. 

Kevin Cabrera (KC): My background is in museum management and facilities. In my previous role, I was the College Park Aviation Museum director. Before that, I was the executive director of a museum in California for five years but spent 10 years of my career there. I have a background as a public historian, but I’m really a community historian. A lot of my research has focused on local communities. So, I am a big advocate of museums utilizing art and culture to incorporate into historical frameworks. I think art is an amazing way to tell stories — and to engage communities that might not be interested in history.  

Now, as I moved into the assistant chief role, I began working with our team to reexamine how we interpret the history of the county’s historic house museums.  Over the last four or five years, all of our historic sites have been looking at how to tell and inform communities about a more inclusive history.  All of our historic houses are former sites where Black people were enslaved. Therefore, we want to ensure that the enslaved people are represented and acknowledged in our interpretation. So we are asking: What does inclusive interpretation work look like? How are we incorporating more stories of the enslaved at our sites? How are we incorporating various community stories and women into our interpretation?

Additionally, in speaking with our staff, I realized that community members use the sites for more than just visiting the museums. For example, the Montpelier House Museum is within walking distance of a nearby community. Riverdale House Museum lies within the Riverdale community. In both instances, community members have access to the grounds and often walk through the properties. Because community members are using the properties in this way, we are asking: How can we enhance community members' experiences? Veronica Gallardo, executive director at the Surratt House Museum, recognizes this and has plans to reinterpret and reimagine the property's outdoor space. 

As I continue to have these conversations with staff, and as the teams continue to research the history of enslaved people, I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to display art. The public art would represent the enslaved peoples’ experiences. 

T.I.: Why do you particularly want this public art to embody the enslaved people’s experience in Prince George’s County? 

K.C.: To be honest, all of our sites are mansions. The Surratt House Museum, I think, is a little bit different. These are beautiful spaces. We have to acknowledge that what went into the work of these beautiful spaces was the work of the enslaved community. So, for us,..this is a story that has not been shared or made visible throughout our sites. Therefore, having that visible presence is very important. 

T.I.: What does the organization’s internal process look like to achieve this work? 

K.C.: We have another division within our department called The Arts & Cultural Heritage Division (ACHD). That department manages all the arts centers within the county. They know artists that do public art, and they commission artists to do public art. 

Before discussing it with them, I first reached out to my chief.  “What do you think about [putting public art at different historic sites in the county]?” I asked. She told me that “it was a great idea.” 

Then, I proposed the idea to ACHD. They said, “Why not? Let’s go. Let’s do this!”

So that’s what we have been doing. Over the last four or five months, we’ve been visiting each site and having conversations with directors. They’ve been getting to know the directors, and learning a little bit more about the history of each site, and the directors’ vision for their site.  

Now we’re partnering with a local exhibition and design firm that helps museums and historic sites to create master plans. We are now at the moment where we've gotten feedback from site directors. I’ve informed site directors that it’s time to hold community stakeholder forums. We want to invite residents to the sites to listen to their ideas. This is an important aspect of our work.

T.I.: How do you envision community members engaging with these public arts?/ What does the institution hope to communicate to communities about the public arts? 

KC:  As an organization, we want to make sure that we are not shying away from this history. As visitors come to our sites, we want to make sure they’re recognizing the true history that happened at these sites. There's an opportunity for dialogue.  There's an opportunity to educate and to teach, if there's no awareness of that, right? From the organization’s standpoint, this is exactly what we should be doing as historians. We should be able to engage, educate, and teach our communities. We want these community museums to be spaces where community members have conversations.

*As yet, the organization hasn’t planned any future community forums. For more information about Surratt’s House Museum public art forum, email: surratthouse@pgparks.com or call: (301) 868-1121

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