When Alicia Romero talks about the work of museums, she rarely centers herself. Instead, she turns the conversations towards community, the people whose histories she studies, those who walk through the museum’s galleries, and the neighbors she grew up alongside in Albuquerque.
“The way that I approach all of my exhibitions is really a community focus and making connections with people,” says Romero.
That focus now guides her as she steps into her new role as head curator at the Albuquerque Museum, a position she began at the beginning of November.
Romero arrives with a resume that stretches from Santa Fe to Santa Cruz, California. But her roots remain firmly planted in Albuquerque. Born and raised in the city, she traces her curiosity about history to early experiences with family stories and local traditions.
Her curiosity eventually led her through an academic path that included bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Though she once envisioned a life in academia, she found her calling in museums.
Before joining the Albuquerque Museum, Romero served as curator and later head curator at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, where she spent five years shaping exhibitions centered on regional history, cultural memory and everyday life in New Mexico.
Now, as she leads the museum’s full curatorial and collections staff, Romero describes her approach as one of support and shared authorship. “I would like to see my role as a supportive role to my team, but certainly providing some leadership,” says Romero. Collaboration, she adds, extends beyond the museum’s walls. “When I do my history exhibitions, I rely on local experts, because I don’t know everything.”
One of her immediate goals is internal: strengthening the team she now leads. She speaks candidly about wanting to understand her colleagues’ strengths, challenges and working styles. “Short term is making as strong of a team as we can with the team that we have,” says Romero. “How can we overcome any challenges that we’re facing as a team the way we are now?”
Longer term, Romero is thinking about the museum’s role in the cultural life of the city. For her, success looks like a museum that people visit not just with out-of-town guests or on school field trips, but as a regular part of everyday life. “How do we make this museum a space where everyone sees themselves here?” says Romero. “Where everyone feels welcome and excited to come more often?”
A major part of that vision involves the museum’s sweeping collection. With roughly 300,000 objects across history, art and photography, Romero sees the ongoing collections inventory as a turning point.
The museum’s collections team is currently cataloging every piece in its archives, a project she says will allow for more intentional collecting. “Now that we know exactly what we have, it gives us a really great opportunity to refine that collection,” says Romero. That might mean transferring certain objects to institutions better suited to care for them, making room for acquisitions that more fully reflect Albuquerque’s diverse communities.
That connection to community is not abstract for Romero. She grew up between Albuquerque and northern New Mexico, experiences that continue to shape her sense of place. Time away only deepened that bond; while living in the Bay Area during graduate school, she often found herself writing toward New Mexico as a way of staying connected.
Now back in the city that raised her, she understands that her role carries a special kind of weight. “Its a responsibility, not just from my family, to do the right thing, but from my whole community,” says Romero.
That sense of responsibility guides her curatorial practices: listening first, stepping back when necessary, and putting community voices at the center. She sees exhibitions not only as scholarly projects but as dialogues.
Ideas, Romero says, can emerge from anywhere: a passing comment from a colleague, an object tucked into storage, or a national issue that unexpectedly resonates with the region. “We plan our exhibitions at least two years in advance,” says Romero. “So, sometimes what I think I’m going to do tends to respond to a national conversation in ways I didn’t expect.”
Ultimately, Romero’s goals are simple but ambitious: to make the museum a place where people feel at home. “I want to see as many people here as possible,” she says. “I want to see them interacting with art, being inspired by what they see and learning about themselves.”
Her invitation is simple: come say hello.