Teen council activities at the Academy Museum educate young people in movie making. (© Academy Museum Foundation, photo by Luis Rodriguez)

Movies are a teaching opportunity. At least, that’s how the Academy Museum’s director of education and public engagement Christina Ybarra sees it. Through programming and exhibits, Ybarra makes sure that the museum is more than just a collage of film artifacts, but a cultural resource – a place where people can learn about those that come from other backgrounds, origins and schools of thought.

Ybarra is a Los Angeles native, and has had a hunger to educate for as long as she can remember. When she attended Otis College of Art and Design, she was part of the school’s Artists, Community and Teaching program.

“Basically, the ethos is that you’re getting to learn how to work in community organizations or work in classrooms, working with youth through arts education,” Ybarra explained. “My background is in painting and photography, but I always knew I didn’t want to be a studio artist – somebody who sold my work. That wasn’t very interesting to me. I like the idea that art can be healing. Art can be cathartic. Art can be [about] expressing your worldview [and] connecting with others through art.”

After she graduated, she described herself as being the “art lady” at elementary and secondary schools.

“Then I started working at the Broad Museum in visitor services [before it opened], and [continued to work] there after they opened, developing their community outreach programs, their family workshops, their student programming – so really digging into working with the local population, schools, kids and teens,” Ybarra said.

A tried-and-true movie fan, when a position opened at the Academy Museum, she was more than ready to apply. The first time she applied, she was passed over for the youth programs manager. But she didn’t give up. When the position became available again a few years later, she applied again.

“This is what I [wanted] to do. I just [wanted] to work with families and getting them into film,” Ybarra said.

The museum would offer greater opportunity still. After just six months working in youth programming, she was asked to be the interim director of education and public engagement. And in June 2023, the position was made permanent.

“I really took the challenge. I could expand more, not just to the teens and the kids that I love working with, but to intergenerational audiences and to deepening the connection to the public at large – to get them to come to the museum, to be engaged with our collection [and] to be engaged with our film programs [and] our exhibitions,” Ybarra said

The first film she can remember making a significant impact on her was “Moonstruck.”

“I probably shouldn’t have been watching that when I was five or six, but I saw it, and I just loved Cher,” she remembered. “I think also because she’s tall and she had big curly hair, and I was a little girl with big, curly hair.”

She said that movies offer their own language that transcends cultural differences. As she became a true film aficionado, she discovered the work of Spanish writer and director Pedro Almodóvar, specifically his seminal classic “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”

“I just thought it was really funny, but then I got older, I watched more of his films. The issues that he touches upon, and the way he does it – that combination of the absurdity, the melodrama, the relationships between the main characters – I love his work,” she said.

Ybarra said the museum makes an effort to include and spotlight people of all backgrounds in a holistic way that is not performative but celebratory. For instance, for the third year in a row, the Academy Museum will mark Día De Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, with an event on Nov. 2.

“I love celebrating that holiday personally, and the fact that when we have it here at the museum, I’m seeing that my culture is seen. It’s appreciated, and I have a space to come every year,” she explained.

Christine Ybarra, the Academy Museum’s director of education and public engagement, loves working with kids and families to get them interested in film. (@ Academy Museum Foundation)

In conjunction with the holiday, the Academy will screen “The Book of Life,” the animated film from 2014 that follows a bullfighter on an afterlife adventure.

The original version of “West Side Story” will also be screened, featuring an intimate Q&A with the film’s star Rita Moreno, now 92 years old, who won the Oscar for her portrayal of Anita.

“One of the [reasons] she was really excited to work with us was [to be] able to have a chance to speak to a multi-generational audience. She wants to share her experiences and her wisdom with young audiences,” Ybarra said.

This fall, the Academy Museum pays homage to the iconic Japanese monster film series “Godzilla,” a screening series coinciding with its new Hollywoodland exhibit honoring the Jewish founders of the film industry, a celebration of the work of writer and activist James Baldwin, a tribute to Technicolor and a birthday celebration for legendary Italian star Sophia Loren.

Ybarra said these events, and the Academy Museum as a whole, could only happen in Los Angeles.

“We are in the movie making capital of the world. So many people come from all over the world to be here, to make their stories be told, to connect with others, to be in community with other filmmakers, to see themselves on screen [and] to help others get on screen,” she said. “I think all of those stories, all of those narratives are so important to the way we work.”

For a full schedule of Academy Museum events, visit academymuseum.org.