Refocusing Museums on People

Or, my dreams for museums in a post-COVID world As I watch museums lay off thousands of highly qualified underpaid staff during this pandemic, I have been asking myself why I keep investing in museums.  Museum staff are overwhelmingly white, straight, and able-bodied and museum leaders are overwhelmingly male. For centuries museums have told stories...

Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion: How Change Starts

Can a ragtag group of exhibit people inspire Chicago museums to become more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive?

Nevermore Park and the Art of Experience Design

Hebru Brantley’s Nevermore Park schools both museums and instagrammable pop-ups on experience design.

What’s a Museum?

On September 9, 2019, The International Council of Museums (ICOM) will vote on whether to adopt a new definition of “museum.” With 40,000 professionals in over 141 countries, ICOM is well positioned to foster a new international consensus on the definition of a museum.

How to Center Marginalized People in Exhibit Text

The back entrance to Art of Native America On my last visit to NYC to see my parents, my mom and I headed to the Met to check out the Art of Native America. I was particularly excited to see this exhibit because it is the first time that the Met has displayed Native American...

The Activist Museum vs. The Activist

In the past few years, I have observed an increasing number of museums reinvent themselves as activist museums. Activist museums espouse an explicit agenda and offer visitors concrete ways to create social change. While I am heartened by the trend of activist museums, museums still have a long way to go to gain the trust...

Making Museums Welcoming, Inclusive, Accessible

Have you ever overheard a museum professional make a statement like, “while I know it's important to make sure wheelchair users can get around, the wide aisles really interrupt the flow of the space.” However well-intentioned, statements like these miss the power and importance of making museums welcoming, inclusive, and accessible. At the most recent...

Why I Love the new Exhibit on Charles White

Charles White: A Retrospective is a long overdue examination of the legacy of Charles White, a famous twentieth-century African American painter and teacher. Curated by Sarah Kelly Oehler of the The Art Institute of Chicago and Esther Adler of MoMA, the critically acclaimed exhibit has many strengths. However, the aspect of the exhibit that I found...