No Small Steps: The Time Has Expired

Abstract

AbstractThis author believes that museums risk societal irrelevance, unless they effect profound changes in response to calls for inclusiveness and equity on the part of Blacks, Latinx, and other disenfranchised groups. She makes specific suggestions in multiple areas: Museums should pledge to fill positions with people of color and from other marginalized minorities. Hiring should privilege societal accomplishments and life experience over age, gender, and education credentials. Museum boards must include community representatives with the same rights as donors. Exhibition topics should be relevant to the lives of community members and spaces beyond museum buildings should be used as venues. Current exhibitions and collections, or even complete museums, should be re‐interpreted by people represented in them. Decolonization efforts should include a national portal of items with suspect provenance and the Eurocentric nomenclature for cataloging should be revised. Overall, museums must promote “shared authority" and include individuals and communities in their re‐creation.