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About the Book
The museum field is experiencing a critical gaze that is both “of the moment” and long overdue. Museums were built as colonial enterprises and are slow to awaken to the harm caused by their actions which are not limited to the capturing and keeping of Indigenous ancestors, the exclusion and erasure of Black voices, bodies, and creativity, and the positioning of white power in the C-suite and board rooms. For decades, the conversation about equity and inclusion in the museum field has become louder. It is no longer possible to ignore the systemic racism embedded in our society and our profession.
The Inclusive Museum Leader offers insights and perspectives from two recognized museums leaders who have joined together to offer practical solutions and opportunities for today’s museum leaders. Authors share their journeys to becoming inclusive leaders, as well as decisions they have made and actions they have taken to build equitable practices within their organizations.
Throughout the book are personal exercises and provocations the reader is invited to respond to, making the book a valuable tool for any museum leader looking to enhance their style and re-frame their decision-making process.
Upcoming Events
American Association for State and Local History/Arkansas Museums Association 2021 Annual Meeting Panel Just Leadership: Organizational Justice in the Workplace
September 24, 2021 | 2:30 p.m. CDT
Organizational justice focuses on fairness and equity within systems and leaders can take responsibility to shape them into just places. Editors Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko and Chris Taylor will be joined by chapter authors Ben Garci and Ashley Rogers to share their experiences as leaders and change agents in organizational justice work. Participants will hear about their experiences and take away practical applications for their home locales.
Learn more here
Association of Midwest Museums/Wisconsin Federation of Museums 2021 Conference Opening Keynote: Inclusive Museum Leadership
November 1, 2021 | 10:45 a.m. CDT
The museum field is experiencing a critical gaze that is both “of the moment” and long overdue. Museums were built as colonial enterprises and are slow to awaken to the harm caused by their actions which are not limited to the capturing and keeping of Indigenous ancestors, the exclusion and erasure of Black voices, bodies, and creativity, and the positioning of White power in the C-suite and board rooms. Collective rooms of action are heavy with museum educators, millennials and younger, and the disenfranchised; these rooms of action rarely see museum directors in the mix. During their talk, Catlin-Legutko and Chris Taylor will examine this disconnect and offer practical insights from their own journeys toward inclusive practice.
Learn more here
Check back for more events to be added soon!
Past Events
The Newsfields Speaker Series: The Inclusive Museum Leader with Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko & Chris Taylor
Editors Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko and Chris Taylor offered insights about inclusive leadership and practical actions leaders can take immediately to shift their thinking and start moving their museums toward an inclusive future.
Learn more here
About the Editors
Working in museums for 25 years, Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko has served as a museum leader since 2001. Prior to joining the Illinois State Museum as director in 2019, Cinnamon was the director of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum (Crawfordsville, IN) where she led the organization to the National Medal for Museum Service in 2008. She then served as president and CEO of the Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor, ME) where she co-led their decolonization initiative and co-developed practices to ensure collaboration and cooperation with Wabanaki people. Cinnamon has served on numerous national and local boards including the American Association for State and Local History and the American Alliance of Museums; she is currently a board member of the Association of Midwest Museums. She is the author of Museum Administration 2.0 (2016), The Art of Healing: The Wishard Art Collection (2004), and co-editor of the Small Museum Toolkit (2012). In 2016, she gave her first TEDx talk, We Must Decolonize Our Museums (www.tedxdirigo.com). Cinnamon’s latest publication is The Inclusive Museum Leader (2021), a compilation of essays she co-edited with Chris Taylor and published by the American Alliance of Museums.
Chris Taylor is the Chief Inclusion Officer for the State of Minnesota. In this role, he facilitates more welcoming and inclusive organizational cultures across Minnesota’s state agencies. Chris spent nearly 14 years at the Minnesota Historical Society where he developed and implemented a vision for systemic change across the MNHS network and led organizational change efforts to respond to shifting demographics in Minnesota. Mr. Taylor received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas and a Master’s degree from the Cooperstown Graduate Program for Museum Studies. He is currently working on a Doctorate of Education in the Organization Development and Change program at the University of St. Thomas.