Diversity

A Totally Inclusive Museum

By Cecile Shellman

At the conclusion of a long and productive workshop about inclusion, a museum employee asked: ”How will we know when we have reached our goal of being fully inclusive?” It was a great question, but I’m not sure anyone liked the answer. …
Museums Should Take Notes from Black Panther and Beyoncé: How to engage visitors in difficult discussions using popular media

By Stacey Ingram Kaleh

These days, when museums make it into popular conversation it’s a cause for celebration in the community. As we face increasing competition for leisure time and new challenges in audience engagement due to emerging technologies and …
The Power of a Paid Internship: Creating pathways to careers in museums

By Makeba Clay

In 2015, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation issued a report on diversity in art museums that reinforced what is obvious to anyone working in or affiliated with the industry: non-Hispanic white men dominate leadership positions, and there is a …
CAMPing Out: Making Museums More LGBTQ-friendly with Chicagoland Alliance of Museums with PRIDE

By Katie Slivovsky and David Carrasquillo

Part 1: Katie Slivovsky, Exhibit Development Director, LGBTQ Access & Inclusion Chair, Chicago Children’s Museum Something wonderful is brewing in Chicago—and I don’t mean craft beer. I’m talking about the 80-plus staff from over 25 …
Designing an AI Voice for the Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is the second of two posts exploring IRIS+, an AI chatbot at the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In part one, Daniel Morena, founder and creative technologist at of 32Bits, described the program, how it operates, and how …
Community Curating: A Macro to Micro View

By Elizabeth Merritt

In the second post in our series previewing sessions at AAM2018, Michael Berlucchi (Community Engagement Manager, Chrysler Museum of Art), Sandra Bonnici (Associate Director of Education, Diversity, and Inclusion, Madison Children’s …
The Power of Global Partnerships: The Value of Dialogue and Understanding Different Cultures

By Khaled Khatib

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2017 issue of Museum magazine. It is difficult to imagine two partner museums with more different historical and cultural milieus than the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul …
Our Institutions as Sanctuaries

By Eduardo Díaz

Eduardo Díaz is the director of the Smithsonian Latino Center and a 30-year veteran of arts administration. He is an advisor to the Smithsonian’s Secretary and Provost/Under Secretary for Museums and Research as well as to Congress and …
Neurodiversifying the Museum

By Elizabeth Merritt

One topic I’ve explored here on the Blog is how museums such as the Pacific Science Center are making themselves more accessible to visitors with autism. And with ACLS Fellow Nicole Ivy, I’ve examined efforts to diversify the museum …
We’re Not That Hard to Find: Hiring Diverse Museum Staff

By Joy Bailey-Bryant

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2017 issue of Museum magazine. Guidelines to implement change in your museum and identify a pipeline of diverse employees. In 2015, the Mellon Foundation released a report that …