Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
The Ugly Truth of Being a Black Professor in America
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Ugly-Truth-of-Being-a/243234
“I wanted to hold a disagreeable mirror up to white readers and ask that they take a long, hard look without fleeing. My article, “Dear White America,” took the form of a letter asking readers to accept the truth of what it means to be white in a society created for white people. I asked them to tarry with the ways in which they perpetuate a racist society, the ways in which they are racist. In return, I asked for understanding and even love — love in the sense that James Baldwin used the term: “Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
Instead, I received hundreds of emails, phone messages, and letters, an overwhelming number of which were filled with racist vitriol.”
A Museum Manifesto for a More Equitable Future
A Museum Manifesto for a More Equitable Future
May 1, 2018
“The museum sector often thinks about equity in terms of access to exhibits and educational programs. There is also a robust and growing movement to make museums’ digital assets, including documentation and images of collections, open and accessible. But museums also control immensely powerful intangible assets: notably reputation, reach, and networks of influence. I’m developing a workshop to help museums figure out how to use their assets, tangible and intangible, to redress inequities in their communities. By sharing the rough outline of this work in this post I hope to solicit your input, and your help in identifying potential partners, hosts, funders, and participants in this work.
One of the biggest challenges facing the United States today is wealth inequality. One percent of the population now holds well over a third of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 90% holds less than a quarter. This inequality in wealth is part of a pernicious feedback loop of inequity in education, housing, our legal system, job opportunities, health care, political power to name a few. In addition to being a social justice issue in and of itself, economists, historians and policy experts warn that escalating inequality can lead to social and economic instability and some feel it poses a significant threat to our democratic system. I believe there is a huge opportunity for museums to prove their value to society, and tap new sources of support, by taking that second road.”
Stapleton accused of paying off history museum to remove family’s KKK past from exhibit
“A decision by the History Colorado museum to remove references to former Denver Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton in its Ku Klux Klan exhibit, even though he’s one of the most prominent Klansmen in Colorado history, has led Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Barlock to accuse fellow GOP candidate Walker Stapleton of directing his family’s foundation to donate to the museum to cover up the Stapletons’ white supremacist roots.”
com/2018/04/stapleton-kkk-past-paying-off-history-museum/8585/#.WsZYIyXjEfk.facebook
Why museum professionals need to talk about Black Panther
“The seminal film Black Panther has become an international sensation in the week following its release. Notable for its impeccable dialogue, witty banter, and nearly all POC cast, Black Panther provides a platform to discuss a multitude of topics on a national scale. With issues such as police brutality, the ever-present effects of slavery in Western society, and black identity approached in the film, it is easy to gloss over one of the more exposition-driven scenes of the film that engages with the complicated relationship between museums and audiences affected by colonialism.”
From Systemic Exclusion to Systemic Inclusion: A Critical Look at Museums
“Workplace inclusion is a hot topic, defined as an organizational environment where everyone can reach his or her full potential. Much has been written over the last decade or so and themes of various annual conferences across the country have emphasized the need for socially conscious museums. Creating inclusive work environments and work practices are crucial to move the museum field forward.:”
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10598650.2017.1305864
Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-500-23970-4
Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating
Maura Reilly. Thames & Hudson, $32.95 (240p)
Reilly (Women Artists) delivers a fiery rebuke of the exclusionary art world and charges museums and galleries to be more intentional about amplifying the voices of women, people of color, and LGBTQ people.
Labor of Love: Revaluing Museum Work
http://labs.aam-us.org/blog/labor-of-love-revaluing-museum-work/
For further reading on this topic, we recommend the following pieces:
A recap of the 2015 AAM rogue session. https://storify.com/MuseumWorkers/aam-2015
Sarah Erdman, Claudia Ocello, Dawn Estabrooks Salerno, and Marieke Van Damme, “Leaving the Museum Field.” http://labs.aam-us.org/blog/leaving-the-museum-field
Michael Hare, “Hard Times at Plimoth Plantation.” https://theoutline.com/post/2511/hard-times-at-plimoth-plantation
Nicole Ivy, “The Labor of Diversity.” http://www.aam-us.org/docs/default-source/museum/the-labor-of-diversity.pdf
Amy Tyson, The Wages of History: Emotional Labor on Public History’s Front Lines. http://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/wages-history
Andy Urban, “Lifting the curtain on living history.” http://ncph.org/history-at-work/lifting-the-curtain-on-living-history
The Museum World Is Having An Identity Crisis and Firing Powerful Women Won’t Help
On Monday, the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, received an email from director Philippe Vergne with news that chief curator Helen Molesworth was “stepping down” from the prestigious position.
“No,” artist and board member Catherine Opie said to the Los Angeles Times shortly thereafter. “He fired her.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/helen-molesworth-moca-fired_us_5aa951fae4b0600b82ff60b5
Museums and #metoo
https://walkerart.org/magazine/soundboard-me-too-sexual-harrassment-theresa-sotto
How Should Museums Deal with Art by Alleged Harassers?
Since the earliest days of his career, Chuck Close’s vision as a painter has stood out—so much so that, in 1969, the Walker became the first museum to purchase his art, bringing Big Self-Portrait (1967–1968) into the collection. Since then the Walker has acquired 18 more works, including some as gifts from the artist, and organized two solo shows. Given this level of commitment, recent accusations of sexual harassment against the artist have profoundly shaken us—and the field—prompting a serious look at questions related to the presentation of work by artists accused of grave wrongdoing. How can art institutions deeply devoted to both artists and audiences best respond? How should work by artists accused of wrongdoing be presented and contextualized? How must key museum processes change—from acquisitions protocols to the writing of interpretive materials, education programs to publishing?