Ebony Bellamy Nicole Cardoza Ebony Bellamy Nicole Cardoza

Rally against racism in America’s art museums.

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Thank you to everyone who rallied for Jacob Blake yesterday. We'll continue to add updates to the story on our website. Since yesterday morning's publication, a GoFundMe for Jacob Blake and his family was created. There is also a change.org petition you can sign. Please continue to keep Jacob and his family in your thoughts and hearts.

Today Ebony is giving insight on the lack of representation and discrimination in the art world, which impacts people of color and other marginalized communities. We know how much representation matters. Art is necessary for honoring the past and imagining a new path forward. In both perspectives, we need to celebrate the cultures and identities of all of us – right here, right now. 

As always, you can support our efforts by making a one-time contribution on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). You can also subscribe monthly on Patreon.

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TAKE ACTION

1. Sign the open protest letter to hold NYC institutions accountable.

2. Donate to Black Art Futures Fund, a collective of emerging philanthropists who seek to promote and strengthen the future of Black art

3. Use this guide to support Black-owned and Black-operated art galleries in your state

GET EDUCATED

By Ebony Bellamy

Back in June, an open protest letter was written by current and former employees of NYC museums, such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The letter, which was signed by over 200 people, urges museums to “rectify in-house racial disparities, review ‘terminations both voluntary and involuntary’ involving employees of color, and adopt a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy for ‘racially-charged’ statements by staff members” (HypeBeast) amongst other things. 

And this isn’t the first time staff has brought attention to the deep-rooted racist practices at these cultural institutions. The most notable incident happened in 2019 at the Guggenheim Museum. Founded in 1939, the museum never had a Black curator single-handedly organize an exhibition based entirely on their research (HypeBeast). That changed when they hired Chaédria LaBouvier to curate the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition. 

As the first Black curator at the Guggenheim Museum, this should have been an incredible experience for LaBouvier. However, in a series of tweets, she revealed that working with Nancy Spector, who is the museum’s artistic director and chief curator, was the most racist professional experience of her life. Read Chaédria LaBouvier’s Twitter thread to learn more about her experience working at the Guggenheim Museum. 

To combat this, the museum launched an investigation into LaBouvier’s experience and announced they approved a two-year initiative to expand diversity and end racism in their workplace. The Guggenheim Museum is one of the first major cultural institutions to propose such a plan (New York Times). 

This plan features a number of measures including the establishment of paid internships for students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds and a partnership with historically Black colleges and universities to promote job opportunities (HypeBeast). The museum also plans on hiring a high-ranking manager to oversee diversity strategies, creating an industry-wide network for people of color working in the arts and forming a committee that will investigate the museum’s exhibitions and acquisitions “through the lens of equity and diversity” (New York Times).

But it’s going to be hard to enforce this plan when the museum’s targeted demographic doesn’t represent the cultural diversity of NYC. A 2018 study conducted by a marketing firm found that nearly 73 percent of the museum’s visitors identified as white, despite white people representing 43 percent of NYC’s overall population (New York Times). This lack of visitor representation might have to deal with the Guggenheim Museum not showcasing exhibitions that highlight artists from various marginalized groups. The writers of the diversity plan pointed out that “the museum has never held a solo exhibition of a Black artist, a woman artist of color, an Indigenous artist, or a trans-identified artist” (HypeBeast). 

Although the Guggenheim Museum is taking a step in the right direction, many of its employees doubt the plan will create lasting change since a majority of the museum employees, who identify as people of color, were furloughed in April and therefore excluded from the development of the diversity plan (New York Times).  

The mistreatment of employees of color extends further than New York. Last month, a group of former staff and board members at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art wrote a letter accusing the leadership of promoting a culture of racism and ignoring complaints about discrimination and racial bias (Washington Post). Within the letter, they state that “more than 10 former or current Black employees have reported or experienced incidents of racial bias, hostile verbal attacks, retaliation, terminations, microaggressions and degrading comments” (HuffPost) and these incidents occurred over the last five years. 

 

“We write to inform you that we will no longer tolerate your blatant disrespect and egregious acts of white violence toward Black/Brown employees that reflect the oppressive tactics to keep Black/Brown employees maintained and subordinated.”


Authors of the open protest letter to NYC museums

With a predominately white staff and no curator of color, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, like other museums, has become a breeding ground for systemic racism. According to a former employee, right before they left their position at the Smithsonian, of more than 40 staff members, only five full-time positions were held by Black people (HuffPost). It was also reported that Black staff members were fired with no explanation and mangers often created obstacles that inhibited Black employees from doing their jobs but granted white employees, who didn’t exceed at their job, new responsibilities, promotions, and various growth opportunities (HuffPost). And this toxic culture continued despite the museum being led by three Black directors from 2008 to 2020. 

Employee diversity is a well-known problem in America’s museums. A 2015 survey, conducted by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, found that 84 percent of the country's museum staff, which includes curators, educators, conservators, and upper-level administrators, were white. While four percent were Black, six percent were Asian Americans and zero percent identified as Native Hawaiians and Native Americans (NPR). This survey also revealed that women made up about 60 percent of a museum’s staff and people of color were more likely to have positions in security, human resources, facilities, and finance (NPR).

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to have white individuals oversee art collections from a different ethnic group. In 2018, the Brooklyn Museum appointed a white woman to oversee the museum’s African art collection and the Art Institute of Chicago hired a white man to supervise its Chinese art collection (NPR). With a lack of diversity in museums, underrepresented groups are rarely the ones in charge of overseeing art from their cultural and ethnic background. 


To address the lack of diversity, museums need to own up to their racist culture. They need to fire the members of leadership who have bullied, harassed, and discriminated against non-white employees. And issue a sincere apology to the people of color in their institutions who’ve felt belittled and inferior while working there. 

The Black Lives Matter movement has inspired people of color to speak up against all forms of discrimination and racism. Now, they have the power to put pressure on cultural institutions to change the way they operate. As people of color at museums continue to speak out, we can support them by letting those museums know they need to seriously re-evaluate what diversity and equality mean at their workplace. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Most museums have predominately white staff members and don’t have people of color as curators.

  • Employees of color are frequently victims of race-based discrimination, verbal attacks, unjustified terminations, microaggressions, and degrading comments.

  • Only four percent of museum staff members are Black while six percent are Asian Americans and zero percent identified as Native Hawaiians and Native Americans.

  • People of color are more likely to have positions in security, human resources, facilities, and finance at museums.

  • White staff members regularly oversee art from underrepresented racial groups.

RELATED ISSUES

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