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Dear :  

 

As we continue to absorb the news about protests against police brutality and racial injustice, museum professionals face potentially difficult decisions. While many of our personal consciences may prompt us to speak out, we find that our museums may be reluctant to enter the fray of public discourse on such volatile issues. Should we encourage our institutions to be more vocal? Is it within our mission to take a stand?

 

NEMA believes museums can and should do so. As key pillars of their communities, museums play an important role in helping make sense of life's challenges, contextualizing the news, and improving the circumstances of the people they serve. The great power of museums is their ability to transform the lives of individuals who walk through their doors. Their greater power, and fundamental duty in my opinion, is to act as agents of transformation to society as a whole.

 

Last week several of our museum colleagues from New England and around the country went on the record about the events of Ferguson, Cleveland, and Staten Island. We applaud their outspokenness. We also join their call for the museum field to reflect on its role in helping communities heal and grow.

 

At our recent NEMA conference, we hosted "think tank" sessions on how to make the museum field more socially responsible and how to diversify the field. In both, participants called for greater museum involvement in social change. Now is our collective opportunity to put these sessions into action.

 

I encourage you to read the statements and blog posts from our colleagues below, then engage your institution and constituencies in meaningful dialogue about how your museum can be a helpful and positive agent of change.

 

Sincerely,

Dan  

Dan Yaeger

Executive Director 

 


 

Statement from the Association of African American Museums: http://blackmuseums.org/blog/2014/11/statement-from-sam-black-president-aaam-board-of-directors/ 

 

Participating Bloggers and Colleagues

Gretchen Jennings, Museum Commons 

Aletheia Wittman and Rose Paquet Kinsley, The Incluseum 

Aleia Brown, AleiaBrown.org 

Steven Lubar, On Public Humanities 

Mike Murawski, Art Museum Teaching 

Linda Norris, The Uncataloged Museum 

Paul Orselli,  ExhibiTricks: A Museum/Exhibit/Design Blog 

Ed Rodley, Thinking About Museums 

Adrianne Russell, Cabinet of Curiosities 

Nina Simon, Museum 2.0 

Rainey Tisdale, CityStories 

Jeanne Vergeront, A Museum Notes 

 

Save the Date:  

Dec. 17, 2014, 2-3 PM (EST) for a Twitter chat on social justice, advocacy, and the museum field's responses to the issues of racism, injustice, and police brutality. Follow and join the conversation using the tag #museumsrespondtoferguson.  

 

 

New England Museum Association
22 Mill Street, Suite 409
Arlington, MA 02476
781-641-0013
 nemanet.org