Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN), the leading Spanish-language public media network in the United States, has congratulated the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (NMPRAC) on earning accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition awarded to museums in the country.
The distinction places NMPRAC among fewer than 1,100 accredited museums nationwide and makes it only the fourth Latino, Chicano, or Latin American art museum in the United States to receive this honor. It joins the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, and the Museo de las Américas in Denver.
“This accreditation is a powerful affirmation of the museum’s commitment to preserving Puerto Rico’s rich cultural heritage for future generations,” said Michael D. Nieves, President and CEO of HITN and a member of the NMPRAC Board of Directors. “It reflects decades of dedication, vision, and hard work by the museum’s staff and leadership.”
The AAM accreditation program is widely regarded as the museum field’s highest standard of excellence, evaluating institutions on governance, collections stewardship, education, financial sustainability, and public service. Achieving this milestone required years of rigorous self-assessment and peer review.
Billy Ocasio, President and CEO of NMPRAC, emphasized the community effort behind the achievement: “We have worked for this moment since our inception 26 years ago, knowing that everything we did would hopefully lead to this historic milestone. What began as a community’s determination to hold space and tell its own story has grown into a national institution where our art, our culture, and our history are preserved, celebrated, and passed on.”
HITN and NMPRAC share a longstanding commitment to serving Hispanic communities through educational and cultural initiatives. HITN reaches more than 35 million homes in the United States and Puerto Rico via providers such as DIRECTV, Comcast Xfinity, and Charter Spectrum, and its programming is also accessible through the HITN GO app.
Founded in 2000 and housed in the historic Humboldt Park Stables in Chicago, NMPRAC is the only national museum outside of Puerto Rico dedicated to interpreting the arts and culture of the Puerto Rican people. More information is available at https://nmprac.org.
