VPAM and ELAC to Showcase Innovative STEAM Project "We Place Life at the Center" at 2025 AAMG Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2025
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Kevin Jimenez, College Public Relations Manager
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VPAM and ELAC to Showcase Innovative STEAM Project "We Place Life at the Center" at 2025 AAMG Conference
Carolina Caycedo, The Salute of the Fish (detail), 2022. Artisanal hand-dyed cast net, embroidered patches, thread, steel, acrylic paint, lead weights.
MONTEREY PARK, CA – East Los Angeles College (ELAC) and the Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) are pleased to announce its selection to present the innovative exhibition and educational platform "We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro" at the 2025 Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) Conference. Curator Joseph Valencia and Anthropology Professor Christine Sepulveda will serve as featured panelists, sharing insights from their interdisciplinary collaboration that bridges art, science, and environmental justice.
The AAMG Conference, themed "Belonging: Storytelling Across Campus and Community," will take place June 24-27, 2025, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Valencia and Sepulveda will participate by hosting a panel discussion showcasing how their partnership successfully integrated museum curation with academic curriculum to create meaningful learning experiences for students.
"We're honored to share our collaborative approach with colleagues from across the nation," said Joseph Valencia, Curator of Exhibitions at VPAM. "This project exemplifies how academic museums can serve as vital educational laboratories where students directly engage with exhibition development while addressing urgent global challenges like climate change."
The presentation will highlight how Valencia and Sepulveda co-taught an innovative art and environmental studies course that directly connected classroom learning with the development and implementation of "We Place Life at the Center," which opened in September 2024 at VPAM.
A centerpiece of the collaboration was a field research trip to the wetlands of Xochimilco in Mexico City, where students engaged with local environmental leaders and artists to understand Indigenous approaches to environmental stewardship.
"Taking students to Xochimilco transformed their understanding of environmental justice by connecting them with frontline communities," said Christine Sepulveda, Professor of Anthropology at ELAC. "This experience empowered them to develop public programs and create a mural that translates complex scientific concepts into accessible art that resonates with our community."
The AAMG panel will detail how students actively contributed to the exhibition by designing public programs and creating visual art that now serves as an integral part of the museum experience. This hands-on involvement provided ELAC students with professional development opportunities while enriching the exhibition with diverse perspectives.
"We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro" stems from the work of Los Angeles-based Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo and represents four years of research and fieldwork across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The exhibition promotes alternative solutions to global climate crises rooted in ecofeminist and environmental justice perspectives.
"This project represents our attempt to highlight solutions and proposals across the continent to help underscore how energy does not limit itself to electricity, but is instead the ultimate sustenance for life on our planet," Caycedo stated when the exhibition opened.
The exhibition closed at VPAM in March 2025 and opened shortly after at the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia in Bogotá, Colombia where it remains on view through July 21, 2025. The exhibition assembled 35 artworks by Caycedo alongside 30 artworks from artists and environmental movements within her network. It served as a dynamic space for knowledge-sharing across communities and geographies, inviting the public to reflect on the interconnectivity of the natural world and shared responsibility in its stewardship.
About the AAMG Conference
The AAMG conference is the annual event organized by the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG) for professionals in the field of academic museums, galleries, and collections. It provides a platform for networking, professional development, and the sharing of best practices within the academic museum community
About Vincent Price Art Museum
The Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College serves as a unique educational resource for the diverse audiences of the college and the community through the exhibition, interpretation, collection, and preservation of works in all media of the visual arts. VPAM provides an environment to encounter a range of aesthetic expressions that illuminate the depth and diversity of artwork produced by people of the world, both contemporary and past.
About East Los Angeles College
ELAC is the largest of nine two-year community colleges within the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), www.laccd.edu. More information about ELAC is available online at http://www.elac.edu/. Follow ELAC on social media, Instagram @ELACHuskies, X @EastLACollege, and Facebook @Eastlacollege.