Azela Santana’s professional pathway has wound its way through dance and music, pre-med studies, museum curation and academic fundraising. And it has ultimately led to her new role as executive director of the Orange County Regional History Center.
Santana, a daughter of native Filipino parents, was a pre-med major at the University of Florida, through which she took a “dance in medicine” class. That class, in turn, led to a shift from pre-med to a double major in art history and studio art.
“I was always told that I was going to be a lawyer or be a doctor,” recalls Santana. “It really opened up my eyes when I discovered there were other areas where I could see myself having a profession.”
A year after moving to Orlando in 2006, Santana began working at Orlando Museum of Art. She eventually became associate curator and helped launch the museum’s annual Florida Prize in Contemporary Art exhibition.
“I realized that I was really good at project management and loved collaborating with other artists,” she recalls. “It was a good foray into my next role, which was at the University of Central Florida.”
At UCF, Santana oversaw major gift fundraising and alumni engagement for the College of Arts and Humanities. Then, when the history center job opened, “it was a great way for me to bring all those relationships to the table and build upon the amazing work that’s already happening here.”
Santana’s priorities include digitizing the museum’s vast collections, expanding access and collaborating with other cultural organizations. She adds: “With the arts community, we all have the same purpose. We want to engage our audience. We want to provide ways for our audience to participate.”
Meanwhile, the history center, located since 2000 in the circa-1927 Orange County Courthouse, is celebrating the City of Orlando’s 150th birthday with Orlando Collected, an eclectic community-curated exhibition of 150 rarely seen artifacts, some of them quirky, related to the city’s past.
The Orange County Regional History Center is located at 65 East Central Boulevard, Orlando. For more information, visit thehistorycenter.org or call 407.836.8500.
