CAD introduces new hire

By SBCAD
Special to the NEWS

The San Benito Cultural Arts Department (SBCAD) announced earlier this week that it has named a new Museum Administrative Assistant. The new hire, José Carlos is a native of the Rio Grande Valley and a young museum professional, SBCAD officials announced on social media.

After graduating from Los Fresnos High School in 2019, Carlos attended Columbia University in New York City, where he earned a B.A. in history with a minor in business management from Columbia College. In the summer of 2020, Carlos began his museum career with an internship at the Brownsville Historical Association, in Brownsville, as a collections management intern.

He continued his professional development with virtual internships at the Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art located in Scranton, PA, and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

Carlos’s in-person museum career resumed with the Arms and Armor Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY as a collections management intern in September 2021.

The following year, he joined the Printed Books & Bindings Department of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, NY as an academic year intern, where he curated an exhibit on Shakespeare in 19th-century Americana, helped establish an educational outreach program for local Harlem High School students, and continued collections management work.

After graduating from Columbia, Carlos has now returned to the Rio Grande Valley and joined the San Benito Cultural Arts Department as a Museum Administrative Assistant for the San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum (SBCHM).

Carlos said that he hopes to continue developing his museum skills and wants to make a meaningful impact on the cultural landscape of his home region before attending graduate school. Carlos also remarked that he looks forward to preserving the cultural heritage of San Benito and the Rio Grande Valley.

The SBCHM is located at 250 E. Heywood St., San Benito. For operating hours or for more information, contact the museum at (956) 281-0810.