As many museum-lers not doubt have been doing, I have been following this
thread with interest.  My perspective on the topic of how to include
people of color in museums at all levels of participation has become more
complex since I left the museum world for a sojourn in another nonprofit
field, and I thought I'd add my two cents from another discipline to the mix.

I work at a small feminist social services nonprofit agency.  It has been
a revelation to me the ways in which common funding sources bring one
into more regular contact with folks who work on a regular basis with
poor people, and with the services users who are poor.  Part of what we
talk about when we talk about people of color in museums is economics.
We want to make the museum more welcoming to people of color and in many
cases that means a lot of people who are struggling against economic
injustice.  As I have worked in the social services I have seen how much
easier it is to collaborate on projects (read: funding) that addresses
the needs of poor people and people of color when I am in regular contact
looking for grants with these same people.  So, might I suggest to
museums that want to be part of the life of the communities they are
surrounded by, try looking for funding as if you were as important to the
well-being of that community as another police officer or an emergency
foodbank or a rape crisis center.  Because, of course, you are.  Once you
begin to collaborate with the children's program at the domestic violence
shelter and come to meetings on welfare reform and helped, you may find you
have learned more about the different communities you serve than you
thought.

The other cent of my two cents is that if the basis of museums is
collections, it's important that we foster and evince publicly our
commitment to collecting material of the experiences of people of color.
A long-term collecting project is the surest way to make certain that people
of color have an intellectual ownership in one's institution, and
exhibiting that material is the surest way to make certain that everyone
benefits from that collecting.

Hopping down from my soapbox for the weekend,

Farar Elliott
Director
Women's Rape Crisis Center
Burlington, VT
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