CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and learning about Asian culture is made easy with a museum we have right here in Corpus Christi: The Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures & Educational Center.
Musanna Al-Muntasir, who is now a board member of the museum, was born in Bangladesh. His interest in education began with his father and has since been a large part of his life. In his family, education is considered to be the key to success.
"My father came here, as a first generation immigrant, he came on a scholarship. So he was at George Washington University, and then from there, he pursued his Ph.D at Kent State University," said Al-Muntasir. "My sister and I, we were always pushed from the beginning to make sure that we were going to pursue higher education and the opportunities that come with it."
What better opportunity to expose and educate the Corpus Christi community on what life looks like outside of Texas than with this museum?
Director of Operations Richard Hafemeister told 3NEWS, "The biggest thing that's part of our mission is trying to get people an opportunity to interact with Arts and Cultures and history from somewhere else, and see things differently or see more things."
Often times when people hear the word "Asia," they may only think of Eastern Asian countries like Taiwan, China, and Japan, to name a few, but this museum offers so much more.
"We use the old Greek definition of Asia, which starts at Turkey, and everything going east to Indonesia. So we're able to do Polynesia, Micronesia, Indonesia, India, Mongolia, Middle East. We're able to cover a wide sphere," Hafemeister explained.
Luckily, the pandemic did not slow this nonprofit's mission down. In fact, they have enhanced the museum by making it even more accessible to the public.
Hafemeister described this adjustment, "A couple quarantine projects like the room we're in now, and a couple other things that have really helped us expand both our capacity and how many people we can bring in, and the different range of programs we take on."
At the Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures, visitors are given a whole new perspective of the world. "Having an area where you can get all of that experience and kind of get a taste of what people are like outside of Corpus Christi and Texas. I think that's an amazing, amazing experience," Al-Muntasir added.
If you would like to experience the museum for yourself, they are open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Additional information for visitors can be found on their website here.
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