An Interview with Stephanie Ortiz, WMF Regional Director

1. Can you tell us about your role at World Monuments Fund?

I have had many different roles at World Monuments Fund (WMF) since I started working here in 2011, always in our Programs Department. I started as an intern and was truly fortunate to be given the opportunity to grow in the organization and learn from amazing colleagues and project partners from around the world. I am now the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, where I manage a series of ongoing projects as well as engagement at Watch sites. A lot of my work focuses on collaborating with local partners at identifying, developing, and implementing projects in collaboration with local partners.

2. How did you first become interested in cultural heritage preservation?

I first became interested in cultural heritage preservation while attending architecture school back home in Puerto Rico. Oddly enough, I became drawn to the field by works of architecture from the not-so-distant past. The University of Puerto Rico's Rio Piedras Campus has an amazing ensemble of mid-century modern buildings by Henry Klumb, many that are unfortunately neglected. In those buildings, I became aware of the sense of place and contextual design, responding to the orientation of natural light and breeze. My interest in the past began with architecture, but fully flourished when I attended the Historic Preservation program at Pratt Institute and learned about the community side of preservation, about community engagement and telling the untold stories of oft-underrepresented communities.

3. Tell us about one of your current WMF projects you are particularly excited about.

All my projects are exciting because they vary so much in scope and in the challenges they face. I just came back from Mexico where I travelled with WMF's CEO, Bénédicte de Montlaur to celebrate the completion of the Canal Nacional project. This was an exciting project for me because the site came to us in 2019 as a nomination for the 2020 World Monuments Watch and because of its compelling story, it quickly rose to the top among the nominations from Latin America. Canal Nacional is one of the last remnants of Mexico City's once-expansive network of waterways, built over 2,000 years ago to transport goods from ancient Tenochtitlan to Xochimilco. The canals have all but disappeared, giving way to paved roads as the city expanded, but a small section of Canal Nacional remains as an oasis for nearby communities and as a natural habitat for birds amid the bustling city.

For the past 20 years, community volunteers have dedicated their personal time and resources to maintaining the canal—even building or modifying tools and rafts and purchasing materials for cleaning the water and maintaining the land vegetation. WMF collaborated with Mexico Territorio Creativo, the Fundación López de La Rosa, and other community leaders to develop a series of activities to strengthen local stewardship of the Canal by giving the active groups the tools and resources to help them grow and organize themselves. You can see the project in detail here.

Another project that excites me is Rapa Nui National Park, another 2020 Watch but more importantly a legacy project of WMF's. We began working in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in 1967 and have supported a long series of conservation works at this amazing place. The Rapa Nui National Park—a national monument of Chile and a World Heritage Site—covers close to 44% of the island. Its management was transferred to the local indigenous community, who are now responsible for approximately 20,000 archaeological sites located within the park boundaries, featuring nearly 1,000 moai, 300 ceremonial structures, stone dwellings, rock art, and caves. Our current work focuses on the Mata Ngarahu petroglyphs in Orongo Ceremonial Village, but our objective is to develop long-term engagement to support the Rapanui in the protection of their heritage.

4. What does cultural heritage preservation mean to you?

Cultural heritage is the wide range of human expressions—tangible and intangible—passed on from generation to generation. These expressions, seen in the built environment, art, traditions, food, and the landscape through society's interaction with nature, are ever changing just as societies are changing, imbuing new and different layers of significance and function/use. For me, cultural heritage preservation is how we manage change to make sure these expressions—places, traditions, and more—remain in a way that is relevant and reflective of the communities that use and sustain them.

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World Monuments Fund safeguards cultural heritage around the globe, ensuring our treasured places are preserved for present and future generations. 

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