Centering Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion

Support Free COVID-19 Resources for the Field:
These resources have been taken out from behind the member paywall to make them free and accessible for all. The current crisis is taking a distressing financial toll on cultural organizations, and AAM is no different. In these challenging times, we ask that if you can, consider supporting our advocacy work and making extensive COVID-19 resources freely available for our field, by making a donation or becoming a member of AAM. Thank you for your much-needed support.

All too often in times of crisis and uncertainty, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are deprioritized as individuals and institutions make sense of their new realities. But it is only more imperative, in these difficult times when immense inequities that exist within global society and institutions are made visible, to center equity and inclusion in decision-making and actions. These times require collective action to center, protect, and lift up the voices of the most vulnerable, which mandates making decisions firmly grounded in equitable principles, taking bold stances, and creating opportunities to do individual and collective work differently than before.

The Alliance’s COVID-19 Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion Resource List provides information that will support individuals, teams, and institutions in centering diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion while they work to understand and respond to the moment at hand, as well as navigate whatever challenges the future may hold. We hope this list will support the field in building awareness and capacity while driving action towards equity and inclusion.

Resources

• Covid-19 Response Strategy Equity Audit by Beloved Community – In this moment of crisis and uncertainty, it is now more essential than ever to center equity in our plans and decision-making. Here are guiding questions and thoughts you should use to audit your crisis response plans/strategies before implementing them.
• Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens – Learn fundamental principles that center the wisdom and life experiences of people who live with chronic illness.
• It’s Different This Time: Handling Nonprofit Staff Cuts Under COVID-19 – This article discusses the practical considerations in making staff cuts.
• Supporting Women During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic – the Alliance shares information to help museum professionals understand the disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on women, and BIPOC women in particular.

Promoting social justice

• The Alliance blog shares:
  • Curatorial Dreaming in the Age of COVID-19
  • For Museum Leaders Who Want to Do Better
  • Museums and Equity in Times of Crisis
• Arts Administrators of Color has Arts Leaders of Color Emergency Fund with lots of useful information and resources.
• The Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has been conducting various webinars on COVID-19, including Empathetic Audience Engagement During a Crisis with Andrea Jones (Peak Experience Lab).
• BoardSource shares a blog post on how board can commit to equity during this time.
• The Design Studio for Social Intervention developed this downloadable PDF to provide information on Social Justice in a time of Social Distancing.
• Giving Tuesday offers advice on how to Embrace Social Distancing, but Fight Social Division.
• From the Healing Justice podcast, Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens centers the wisdom and life experiences of people who live with chronic illnesses and disability.
• The International Coalition of Site of Conscience has developed a Public Square with various resources on managing COVID-19, including the Stronger Together: A COVID-19 Webinar Series, facilitated discussions on COVID-19.
• King County, Washington encourages all companies to promote kindness with Anti-stigma Resources.
• Museum As Site For Social Action (MASSAction) asks How Are We Centering Equity in this Time? and Equitable Institutional Sustainability in Times of Crisis
• On Medium, Brevity & Wit, posted 10 Ways Inclusive Leaders Can Mitigate Bias When Communicating About Coronavirus.
• National Museum of African American History & Culture shares Being Antiracist
• Peak Experience Lab has a useful blog post on conducting Empathetic Audience Engagement During The Apocalypse.

Disproportionate Impacts Of Systemic Racism in the Time Of COVID-19:

All of our communities face unbelievable challenges as we navigate COVID-19. We’ve all heard that the coronavirus does not discriminate, but due to pre-existing inequities embedded in the fabric of our nation’s systems, many communities, particularly communities of color, are faced with a myriad of different challenges. Understanding how systems affect different communities will help us determine the best and most equitable path forward. Below, find resources organized by community.

Black Communities

• Bryan Stevenson on the Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests,  Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker
• The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Racial Wealth Gap, Danyelle Soloman, Center for American Progress

Asian Communities

• Email message about racism and violence against Asian American Pacific Islanders, the Museum of Chinese in America
• Standing Together Against Xenophobia, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
• AAPIP Statement on COVID, Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy: Statement on COVID and reiterating the importance of condemning racism and xenophobia towards AAPI individuals and organizations.

Racial Equity Community Solutions, Care, Healing

• Racial Equity and Inclusion Plan Primer, American Alliance of Museums
• How to Be Together Apart In the Time of Coronavirus, Priya Parker, The New York Times
• Self-Care Tips For Asian Americans Dealing With Racism Amid Coronavirus, Brittany Wong, HuffPost
• This immigrant has uplifting tips on making quarantine work. He’s been living like this for a year, Esmy Jimenez, KUOW
• This Black Owned Toy Business Is Playing No Games During The Coronavirus Crisis, Shoppe Black
• Preparing For Coronavirus Crisis: As Organizers, It’s Time To Do What We Do Best, Irene Rojas-Carroll, Bay Rising
• Decolonizing Community Care In Response To Covid-19, Jade Begay, NDN Collective
• Traditional Indigenous Kinship Practices at Home: Being Child-Centered During the Pandemic, INDIGENOUS MOTHERHOOD
• Boost your mood … on quarantine, Aliyah Chavez, Indian Country Today
• How a community kitchen and taxi company are working together to keep people fed during COVID-19<, Carmen Hom, International Examiner
• Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure, Aisha S. Ahmad, The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Community Care: An Indigenous Response to Coronavirus, Jade Begay, YES!
• A Brief Guide to Making a Better Tomorrow, adrienne maree brown, Vice
• COVID-19: Using a Racial Justice Lens Now to Transform Our Future, Lori Villarosa, Nonprofit Quarterly
• Can Coronavirus Cure White Supremacy?, Michael Harriot, The Root
• Parenting During Coronavirus: Opportunities to Reconnect and Decolonize, Angela Aguilar, Yes!
• To get through a pandemic, remember the lessons learned by your ancestors, Colleen Echohawk, Puget Sound Business Journal
• Stop Talking About Inequality and Do Something About It, Jeremiah Bey Ellison, The New York Times