Tucson Museum of Art

Museums speak to everyone — or they should. Between 2019 and 2020, I translated over 70 exhibition-related files for the Tucson Museum of Art, making their collections and programming accessible to both English and Spanish-speaking audiences in Southern Arizona.

The challenge

Exhibition texts occupy a unique space in translation. They must be accurate, accessible to a general audience with no specialist knowledge, and carry the voice and intention of the original — whether that is a curator’s analytical prose or an artist’s personal statement. A word-for-word translation is rarely the right one.

What I did

I translated materials in both directions — Spanish into English and English into Spanish — across a range of document types: wall texts, exhibition catalogues, educational materials, and community engagement content. Each text required a different register: formal for catalogue essays, plain and welcoming for educational panels, community-centered for outreach materials.

Particular care went into the Community Engagement materials, where tone and cultural resonance mattered as much as accuracy. The goal was not just comprehension but genuine connection with Spanish-speaking visitors who might otherwise feel the museum was not for them.

What made this work

Sustained collaboration with the museum’s curatorial and education teams over 18 months meant I developed a deep familiarity with the institution’s voice, values, and audiences. That consistency showed in the final texts — they read as museum voice, not as translations.

Skills applied

Spanish ↔ English translation · Exhibition writing · Community engagement content · Register adaptation · Editorial review