Posts
Diversity
Quantifying a Commitment to Representation
I realized last summer that after twenty years in the museum field, I felt deeply frustrated. When I enrolled in my first museum studies classes in the late 1990s, there were audible and …
What Can Museums Learn from the “American Dirt” Controversy?
As an avid reader of Chicanx/Latinx literature, I’ve been closely following the national conversation about the recently released novel American Dirt by author Jeanine Cummins. The …
Soundtrack for an Equitable Conference
Cradled in soulful New Orleans, the 2019 American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting offered a variety of new sights and sounds in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the United …
The Transformative Power of Inclusive Storytelling in Museums
My mentor Dr. Johnnetta Cole, the former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAfA), often says, “It’s easy to live without art, but it’s hard to live well.” For me, …
What Kind of Ancestor Will You Be?
As Facing Change Senior Diversity Fellows, I and my associate fellows have been tasked with supporting museums as they address the lack of racial diversity in the governances of their …
A Welcoming Week Celebration on the US-Mexico Border
This fall, AAM partnered with Welcoming America to encourage museums to participate in its annual Welcoming Week, in which organizations around the country welcome new immigrants and …
Table Setting: The work before the work
Often when I talk with folks about DEAI work there is a sense of urgency. They’ll say, “We’ve gotta make this happen now because so and so is really a problem,” or “We need our community …
Belonging: Co-creating welcoming and equitable museums
“Can you describe a time you felt unwelcome or like you didn’t belong in a museum?” This question was posed during a recent conference call for the Facing Change Senior Diversity Fellows. …
2019 Award Winner for Excellence in Practice: David Rios
According to his nominator, David Rios, Director of Public Programs and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), “excels in building experiences and …
With Their Subject Matter in the Crosshairs, What Should Museums Do?
My parents were part of the generation that fought and won World War II. As their children, it was common for us to ask them, “What did you do during the war?” We wanted to be reassured …
Get about It: Change and Resistance
I’d never visited New Orleans before, and my brief but fascinating experience served as a metaphor for this year’s AAM Annual Meeting experience. New Orleans is a city of layers, with old …
Flies in the Buttermilk: Museums, Diversity, and the Will to Change
This essay originally appeared in the July/August 2000 issue of Museum News, a publication of the American Alliance of Museums. Lonnie G. Bunch III later became the founding director of the …