Chicago's Latino History Exhibit Gets a Salsa-Filled Farewell
A bilingual Latino history show closes with salsa, folk dance, crafts and a curator talk, included with museum admission.
🎊 The Closing Program
💃 Salsa on the Closing Floor
The closing program is included with museum admission. Sunday starts at noon and the room changes all afternoon. Artist Chava Mancera sets out marigold paper flowers, small ofrendas, buttons and protest signs until 4. Curators speak from 1 to 2 about what comes next at the museum. Dancers from Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center turn the room into a salsa floor from 2 to 3, with Maria Luisa Torres teaching steps and Joaquín García leading the band. Ballet Folklórico de Chicago performs 3:15 to 3:35 and the Kichwa Community of Chicago follows 3:45 to 4:15.
🇲🇽 Where the Show Came From
The exhibition fills the second floor and runs in English and Spanish. Photographs, interviews, clothing, personal items and everyday objects follow Latino families here back to the 1800s, from those first arrivals to Mexican, Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian neighborhoods across the city and its suburbs. Students from Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy pushed for this show after protesting thin Latino representation at the museum in 2019. The last day hands the room back to those communities.
🎫 What Sunday Costs and Where to Enter
Sunday hours run 12 to 5, and Mondays stay closed. Adults pay $19 as Chicago residents and $24 from outside the city. Seniors pay $17 and $20 on the same split, and Illinois residents 18 and under enter free. Free admission days fall on November 11 and 19, not this Sunday. Everything on the closing program comes with a general admission ticket, and the North and Clark Cafe stays open until 4:30.
