Farar P. Elliott wrote:
>
> 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
> [log in to unmask]

I have been following this discussion, and I feel that your reply is the
closest to my thinking.  Our museum's most successful outreach has been
in directly working with social services agencies using our money or
foundation money.  In our community there are several foundations looking
to fund this sort of initiative.