The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) has announced the appointment of Michael Reyes as Senior Curator and Jacqueline Sierra as Marketing Coordinator.
Mr. Reyes joins the EPMA as Senior Curator, a position that has been vacant since 2020 when Kate Green left the museum to become the Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of El Paso (which manages the EPMA and other local museums) shut down many of its services such as libraries, museums, and recreation centers, and vacated positions remained empty until 2023.
Michael Reyes. Photo: Natasha Norman.
In line with El Paso’s recent focus on engaging with its local communities, both of the museum’s new hires have deep connections with the city. Mr. Reyes was born and raised in central El Paso. He has a BA in English and American Literature with a minor in Museum Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), and an MA in Museum Studies from the University of San Francisco.
Stepping into this new role, Mr. Reyes brings a decade of experience in curatorial, collections care, grant writing, and public outreach. He has held positions at the C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department at UTEP, EPMA, the Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens at UTEP, the County of El Paso, the Gay Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society in San Francisco, the National Japanese American Historical Society in San Francisco, the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts. Most recently he served as the Curator at the El Paso Museum of History.
Jacqueline Sierra. Photo: Josie Jimarez-Howard.
Ms. Sierra is also an El Paso native. She holds a BA in History with a minor in Museum Studies, an MA in History with a focus on the intersections between African American and Mexican American histories in the El Paso borderlands, and a certification in Public History from UTEP. Prior to joining EPMA, she worked as a Collections Associate and Tours Coordinator at the Tom Lea Institute in El Paso. Ms. Sierra was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Oral History at UTEP, where she conducted oral histories and helped in the development of the Bracero Museum of Socorro, and held an internship at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology.
Ms. Sierra and Mr. Reyes joined the EPMA on April 8 and May 13, respectively.
