Volunteers push to build ambitious Latino heritage museum in Denver

A long, narrow strip of land on the Auraria Campus could soon become the site of one of the most ambitious cultural projects in Colorado history: a museum dedicated to the state's Hispanic and Latino heritage.

Volunteers behind the project have begun raising millions of dollars to build the museum on land at 11th Street and Auraria Parkway, near Speer Boulevard.

"We need to keep these stories going," said Ramona Martinez, a former Denver City Council president and a seventh-generation Coloradan involved in the effort. "Our children have not heard them, so that's why we're here today."

Martinez serves as chair of the building committee for the Colorado Hispanic and Latino Heritage Fund.

At the offices of Fentress Studios, models and photos of the colorful building concept are on display. Architect Curtis Fentress, who designed Denver International Airport and the expansion of the Denver Art Museum, is leading the design. He envisions an eye-catching building with a rooftop restaurant, and a theater, all built to draw in visitors.

"The exhibits that people can feel and touch and be involved in are the ones they come out talking about," Fentress said.

Martinez said the museum will share stories many Coloradans have never heard.

"I want our children to understand the history. Where did Colorado, the name, come from? Why did we lose our language?" she asked.

She added that the museum needs room to do the state's layered history justice.

"We're expanding the knowledge and the understanding of what has made Colorado and what our ancestors - the Indigenous, the Spanish, the Hispanics, or Latinos - because we're so complex. Our culture is so complex that it needs at least three floors," Martinez said.

Patricia Barela Rivera, who chairs the fund financing the project, wants visitors landing at Denver International Airport to make the museum a key stop in understanding the state's history.

"More than anything, to respect it, to value it, and to learn from it," Barela Rivera said. "Because to me, it really adds value to all of our lives when we know about people and where they come from."

Organizers want the museum to serve all Coloradans. They say the Auraria Campus, home to three colleges, is the ideal setting for the museum's planned educational lab.

"When people walk in, they're going to feel good that they're there because they're going to learn," Barela Rivera said.

More information on the proposed museum is available at cohhf.com.