EVERYTHING’S RELATIVE

CULTURAL COLLABORATION Everything’s Relative

MELODI TAYLES, SDZWA

by BRENDA SCOTT ROYCE

Baja is a hotspot for whale watchers. The annual migration of gray whales—who birth their calves in the warm waters of Baja’s lagoons—draws tons of tourists to the area. Seeing an opportunity to educate these animal lovers to the plight of the pronghorn, the PPRP constructed a Visitor Center near the reserve.

Built by one of the biologists, the structure itself was a “labor of love” in the words of Coral Barreiro, the Zoo’s Manager of Community Programs. But just building it wasn’t enough to make the tourists come. When Director of Conservation Dr. Jake Owens and Director of Animal Programs Beth Schaefer visited the site, they saw a space with lots of untapped potential—and another way the Zoo could lend a hand.

“We have people that create interpretive graphics and think strategically about community engagement,” says the Zoo’s Director of Learning & Engagement Dan

Keeffe. “So, this was a place that we might be able to help.”

Over several months, members of the Zoo’s Learning & Engagement, Conservation, and Animal Care teams met virtually with the PPRP’s Victor Sanchez Sotomayor and Aidee

Sanchez Ramirez to learn about their storytelling goals. They were cautious not to impose their own narrative on the process. “It was not us deciding what the story was,” says

Keeffe. “It was the story they felt was important to tell—and we lent our ability to organize information to that process.”

That’s when Barreiro, who has family in Mexico, decided to make some calls. “Although

I’ve visited a thousand museums in Mexico, I wanted to find out how they do their signage.

I wanted to find someone who worked in a museum there and knew about the culture of

Mexicans reading signs and infographics. So, I put it out to my relatives: ‘Do you know anybody in museums?’ And one of my aunts said ‘yes.’ I couldn’t believe it!” That contact led to someone who put Barreiro in touch with Museografica, a Mexicobased design firm with an impressive list of credits including the Anthropology Museum in Veracruz. “When we told them about the pronghorn—and the conservation effort led by the Mexican government—they were excited to get involved,” says Barreiro. Recruiting a firm already embedded in the Mexican community was critical, says Keeffe. “We don’t know what’s best for other audiences. But what we could do was connect these two groups that previously had no connection. Then we were able to step back pretty quickly, and it was really Museografica and PPRP working together to make the best Center for their community. We helped with gathering information and other ways where necessary, but we were able to not be a critical part of it after a point. And that’s the best part.”

BRINGING THE OUTSIDE IN

The design of the Visitor Center places the exhibitry in the center of the space, leaving the windows open to views of the surrounding land. “The windows are an important element of the design, so that guests can look out and potentially see pronghorn,” says Keeffe. “And Museografica had the expertise to make that happen.”

The Zoo’s involvement in the Peninsular Pronghorn Visitor Center project was made possible thanks to generous funding from William & Karen Timberlake and Diane & Mark Montgomery.