The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Latino (NMAL) has received a $2m donation from the soft drink company PepsiCo that will support planning, design and construction work on the museum’s future home. It comes at a crucial moment for NMAL, and after Republican politicians attempted to block the museum from receiving any federal funding.
“As the daughter of immigrants from Ecuador and Colombia, I am orgullosa (proud) that PepsiCo is supporting the museum in recognising and honouring US Latinos’ dreams, challenges and triumphs,” Esperanza Teasdale, the vice president and general manager of PepsiCo Beverages North America’s Hispanic Business Unit, said in a statement. Antonio Escalona, the senior vice president of emerging business for PepsiCo Foods North America, added: “As a Latino who arrived as an immigrant to the US almost three decades ago, I feel a personal connection with the museum’s mission to elevate US Latinos’ stories within the American experience.”
Founded by an act of the US Congress in 2020, NMAL is in the process of planning for a new building on or near the National Mall in Washington, DC. In 2022, the Smithsonian named Jorge Zamanillo as the inaugural director of the new museum. In 2022, it opened the Molina Family Latino Gallery inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where the inaugural exhibition is ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States.
The $2m gift from PepsiCo is the first for NMAL at its Corporate Benefactor donor level. “We are grateful for PepsiCo’s commitment to helping us bring our mission to life,” Zamanillo said in a statement. “We can plan and develop an innovative museum with their early support.”
The NMAL is one of two new Smithsonian museums currently planning for the eventual construction of new, purpose-built facilities in central Washington, DC. The other is the American Women’s History Museum, which in February 2023 revealed it had received more than $55m in donations, including corporate contributions from Bank of America and Target, among others. That museum opened its first, virtual exhibition earlier this year.